After a successful year at London’s Street Feast market and festivals countrywide, popular barbecue street food vendor HotBox approached Shed to create their first permanent joint in East London.
Shed took inspiration from the process of slow cooking used in Hotbox to create the 160 sqm ground floor restaurant, the result is as brutal as the smoke pit itself. The Grade II listed exterior with high arched windows is boldly painted black, the HotBox red neon logo (a leftover from their days on the road) hung just inside the lobby, illuminating the restaurant entrance. The interior envelope continues the simple application of the colour black, whilst subtly referencing the bare bone cabins and trailer eateries found throughout the Deep South. Metal cladding frames the theatre of the kitchen pass, whilst blackened timber panels herald the all important fuel of the fire. This creates a powerful canvas for HotBox to take ownership of the space, without any of the usual barbeque joint clichés.