Douglas McMaster’s zero-waste restaurant in a Hackney Wick factory, furnished from waste, fungus and cork.
Restaurant, London, UK
Silo moved from Brighton to London in November 2019, taking the upper floor of The White Building, a former cocoa roasting factory beside the canal in Hackney Wick. Chef Douglas McMaster runs it as the world’s first zero-waste restaurant, trading directly with farmers and composting what is left, and the room had to follow the same rule.
Nina+Co built the interior from waste or from materials that will biodegrade or come apart for reuse. The floor is natural cork, the 12-metre bar top is recycled plastic from Smile Plastics, and the cocktail lounge furniture was grown from mycelium. Jan Hendzel made the three-legged ash tables and waiter station in Woolwich, and a local potter fired thirty wall lights from the restaurant’s own crushed wine bottles. What makes it stand out is that none of it looks worthy: it reads as a calm, elegant room first and a manifesto second.
Information
Address
Unit 7, Queens Yard
Hackney Wick
London
E9 5EN