2019 Best of Design Award for Interior — Hospitality: Tamarindo
Designer: Stayner Architects
Location: San Clemente, California

Stayner Architects helped first-time restaurateurs translate their acclaimed food truck, Tamarindo, into a full-service restaurant set in a 1940s-era former men’s haberdashery in San Clemente, at the far southern end of Orange County, California. Tamarindo introduces the land of Nixon to the owner’s traditional cuisine from the Mexican state of Querétaro, north of Mexico City. The design is based on research into the drawings of Mexican feminist artist collective Polvo de Gallina Negra and the Arte Povera materials of Luis Barragán. Stayner Architects translated the handmade quality of the food into the construction materials and architectural details.

Contractor: Stayner Properties
Mural Design and Installation: Jon Anthony
Terrazzo Tables and Countertops: Stayner Architects
Lighting Products: Ketra
Sawn-Cut Lava Stone: SoCal Building Solutions

Honorable Mentions

Project Name: All Square
Designer: Architecture Office

Project Name: ROOST East Market
Designer: Morris Adjmi Architects

Editors’ Picks

Project Name: The Fleur Room
Designer: Rockwell Group

Project Name: Woodlark Hotel
Designer: OFFICEUNTITLED