New York-based architectural firm Bentel & Bentel reimagined each space while honoring the deep legacy of the influential artist, sculptor and architect Herbert Bayer.
When restaurant design powerhouse Bentel & Bentel took on the recent renovation of the lounge, dining room and reception area at Aspen Meadows Resort, designers soon discovered the project first required a study in art history. Aspen Meadows Resort, set on the Aspen Institute’s 40-acre campus at the west end of Aspen, was designed in the Bauhaus style by Herbert Bayer between 1953 and 1973.
Lead architect Peter Bentel and his team immersed themselves in all things Bayer. “We spent time at the Resnick Center, walked the campus and read books on Bayer, studying five or six major periods of his work,” says Bentel.
The result is a beautifully re-imagined space that’s home to West End Social, a vibrant restaurant and lounge with unobstructed 270-degree mountain views and an approachable menu designed by chef de cuisine Rachel Saxton. The renovation also created a brighter, more welcoming arrival experience for guests checking into Aspen Meadows’ suite accommodations. Bentel & Bentel collaborated on the project with both property manager Salamander Collection and resort owner the Aspen Institute.
“Bayer was designing with the German architectural idea of Existenzminimum,” Bentel says. “There’s a real efficiency and simplicity to the architecture. Bayer thought you should be able to enjoy the views and nature and that the buildings shouldn’t get in your way.” Precast concrete beams, concrete-block walls painted white and copious amounts of white sheetrock defined the original space. “It was really simple, but the building had lost the Bauhaus thread,” Bentel says.
Bentel & Bentel approached the renovation bearing in mind the history of the original architecture and what Bayer might have been thinking at that time. However, the renovation was by no means meant to be a historic preservation. “We were trying to bring it into the 21st century,” Bentel says.
The reconcepted spaces at Aspen Meadows Resort are truly an ode to Bauhuas—and to Herbert Bayer.
The Bayer color palette—blue, red, yellow and green—plays out both overhead and underfoot. Tucked between concrete T beams in the ceiling, panels of acoustic material take color cues from a 1949 abstract painting by Bayer titled “Untitled Formation.” “It was an asymmetrical composition of rectangles combined with gradations of light,” Bentel says. “We wanted to create a link back to Bayer’s work and interpret it in an architectural way.”
Those colors also appear in the furniture’s upholstery, with banquettes fashioned in green and red, and chairs in blue. It was a subtle way of infusing Bayer into the renovation while warming up the space. Some of the new furniture is a nod to Bayer’s organic sculptural art, most notably the modern leather wing chairs from Italian furniture maker Poltrona Frau that sit near the fireplace. “We wanted them to feel carved in a modern way,” Bentel says.
In researching Bayer’s work, Bentel & Bentel discovered two rug designs from 1972 that the artist designed for the Atlantic Richfield Oil Company headquarters. They used those designs to create custom rugs. A geometric pattern plays out in the West End Social dining room rug, while the carpet in front of the lounge’s wood-burning fireplace echoes Bayer’s abstract depiction of looking skyward through a grove of golden aspens. “We interpreted it in a different way but still kept the spirit of his original design,” Bentel says.
Designers employed natural materials to connect to the surrounding environment and add warmth to the space. Wood played a significant role in the redesign: Aspenwood cut with a quarter-saw technique gives life to wall paneling with a sense of flickering movement. “We wanted something that had an unexpected quality to it,” Bentel says. The focal design element in the lounge is a brick wall and a fireplace crafted in Colorado marble sourced from the Roaring Fork Valley.
A double-sided glass wine cabinet between the lounge and the dining room allows the space to share energy but not noise. “You can see from one room to the other through this veil of wine bottles,” Bentel says.
West End Social, formerly known as Plato’s, will offer shareable plates inspired by the Rocky Mountains from chef de cuisine Rachel Saxton, who most recently had been cheffing at Michelin-starred Bosq in Aspen. Drawing on locally sourced ingredients, the menu will change seasonally. “Each dish is focused on using as much Colorado produce as possible and using approachable and recognizable flavors with a bit of a chef’s twist,” says Saxton, who’s working collaboratively with resort executive chef J.D. Baldridge. Global flavors highlight and complement each dish. “I really look at how flavors pop and how the dish will travel on your taste buds,” she says.
Saxton uses nontraditional ingredients to balance a dish’s acid, fat and salt. “For example, I’ll burn lemons for a rich floral, citrus flavor or use different types of shoyu—smoked, cherry blossom, white—to achieve a rounded level of umami.” Look for menu items like housemade ricotta with wild mushrooms and roots (Saxton studied the food and wine of Italy at the Culinary Institute of America) and wagyu tartare with gochujang, kumquat and sesame.
Executive pastry chef Sara Figueiredo, who perfected her craft at Gravity Haus in Vail, will head up the dessert program. Like the main menu, the dessert menu will focus on approachable plates that shine a light on local farmers and foragers. Figueiredo created several new pastries and desserts, including Mont Blanc pavlova and chicory persimmon sticky toffee pudding.
Photography by: Jason Dewey
