THE NEIGHBORHOOD

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Theatrical Architecture
Bill Johnson has made career as designer of Atlanta’s most celebrated restaurants
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exposed brick walls, polished wood and
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1409 North Highland Avenue gastronomic one. So when opening a new
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restaurant, restaurant owners hire not only
2350 Cheshire Bridge Road talented chefs but also imaginative architects
(Across From “Varsity JR”)
and designers to create an alluring space
that will draw patrons in time and again.
The architect of choice for successful
restaurateurs such as the legendary Pano
W ake up Karatassos of the Buckhead Life Restaurant
Group is Bill Johnson. Bill’s list of credits
your body, includes Atlanta’s most celebrated dining
spots, including Seeger’s, Nava, Canoe, The
heart, and Lobster Bar at Chops, The Club at Chops,
Horseradish Grill, BluePointe, Killer Creek
soul. Chop House and the recent $1 million
facelift of 22-year old Pano’s & Paul’s. Other
With a deep exploration of yoga,
popular local eateries designed by Bill and
meditation, and breathwork.
his team at The Johnson Studio are The
Morning and evening yoga classes Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen
for beginners through advanced. and The Varsity at Town Center. His national
Pilates, tai chi, qi gong and belly projects include Mon Ami Gabi and Eiffel
dancing are also available. Tower II at the Paris Las Vegas Casino, TrU
in Chicago, and Cypress in his native
Charleston, S.C., among others. And it all
Jaya DeviYoga
S T U D I O began with Atlanta’s intimate and charming
404.688.6757 Dessert Place in the early 1980s.
312C N. Highland Ave. “As a student at Georgia Tech, I, like
www.jayadeviyoga.org most architecture students, envisioned one
day designing monumental public structures
– maybe a library or museum – but restau-
rants never crossed my mind,” Bill said.
“After graduation in ’77 I did a variety of
work in typical start-out positions, then my
first wife opened [a café], the Dessert Place,
and I did its design. [Real estate developer
and restaurateur] George Rohrig saw my
work and hired me to design Peachtree Café
and Otto’s.
“After designing five Buckhead restau-
rants, I realized I enjoyed the opportunities
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for creativity inherent in this type of work,”
he continued. “Restaurants can be very the-
atrical, and I like [orchestrating] all the
visual elements – lighting, color, and tex-
ture.”
Although educated formally as an archi-
tect, Bill is heavily involved in the selection
of his restaurants’ decorative components
such as furniture, fabric, flooring and fix-
tures. “We start with good [architectural]
bones and then use lighting and decorative
elements like pattern, shape, and color to
JESSE POMPEI
make a space soar,” he said.
Bill Johnson’s Atlanta clients include
The Johnson Studio, which has grown Seeger’s, Canoe and BluePointe. He relax-
over the years to a staff of 18, includes a es at his newest venture in restaurant
mix of architects and interior designers. In design, Joël in Buckhead.
some cases the team builds an entirely new
American indigenous architecture and visit-
structure, but often they are presented with
an existing space. With BluePointe the chal-
ed the Anasazi ruins. Craftsmen were
brought in from Santa Fe to lend their rari-
lenge was to work with a 10,000-square-foot
glass box with a 26-foot-high ceiling, while
fied skills to the space that has a striking
wooden-beam ceiling and slanted masonry
Seeger’s presented an opportunity to trans-
form an unassuming bungalow.
walls. Frequently, though, Bill’s restaurants
offer only subtle visual cues, if any, to the
“At the start of a project we meet with
the client to hear their vision,” Bill said.
type of food served. For example,
BluePointe, which features American-Asian
“Typically we have three sessions to learn
seafood, has black granite and mosaic floors
the [restaurateur’s] target audience, the
swirled with blue to suggest the ocean.
food, and the general concept. My job is to
Cameron Philpott, an employee benefits
be a good listener and bring the client’s
consultant with Palmer Cay in Buckhead,
dream to life – even if initially they have
said, “BluePointe is one of my favorite spots
trouble finding words to articulate the
for client meetings, in part because the
dream.” Essentially Bill has to be part psy-
restaurant is filled with colorful, interesting
chologist and part artist.
“At the Studio we divide up into teams of
sights that serve as great conversation pieces
– especially the bar.”
two to five people and brainstorm for our
Seeger’s, in contrast, has a completely
presentation to the client. I’m fortunate to
different ambiance and appeal. The five-star
work with wonderfully talented individuals,
restaurant is known for its understated
and we’re all brutally honest with one
romance, with serene white walls punctuat-
another. Everyone brings inspiration from
ed by a winding cherry-wood staircase,
their own experience,” said Bill. Ideas can
dashes of red and gray, and yellow leather
come from anywhere – the designers’ trav-
banquettes.
els, or from fashion, films and history.
Claudia Thompson, owner of the
“Sometimes when I’m flipping through mag-
Morningside specialty shop Providence,
azines or traveling I observe trends emerg-
praises Seeger’s unpretentious beauty. “The
ing from diverse sources, and I do think
space is elegant, but does not upstage the
there is a sort of ‘collective design uncon-
food or the guests.”
scious’ at work,” Bill added.
Bill said above all he wants his restau-
When designing Nava, noted for its
rants to be warm and fun. “Humans are
Southwestern cuisine, Bill studied Native
social creatures and we go out to eat for
entertainment, but also to connect with oth-
ers and to be a part of the family of man. If
my work gives people a dose of good ener-
gy, I think I’m doing something worthwhile.
Once I was at BluePointe and within earshot
of some patrons enjoying themselves and
pointing out various design features to each
other, like the changing colors at the bar –
it felt good.” @
The Johnson Studio, 127 Peachtree St.
404-525-5400.