Pat Dawson

Caleta & Bad Habit

A restaurant and scoop shop moved from concept through permitting, construction, inspection, and opening without sanding off its attitude.

Deep black finishes, silky plaster, mirrored bars, rated glass, and an ADA restroom disco ball held a deliberately subversive concept inside a code-compliant hospitality operation.

PlaceFabricationCulture

Hospitality · New York · 2022–23

Role

Business developmentStrategyLead designDelivery

Outcome

A hospitality project delivered from schematic design through permitting, construction, and opening.

The completed interior: black tile, custom bar, and warm light.
The completed interior: black tile, custom bar, and warm light.

The delivery tension

Attitude and code both had to win.

Caleta & Bad Habit rejected the clean white ice-cream-parlor template, then carried that position from concept through permitting and opening. Black finishes, silky plaster, mirrored bars, red light, warped grids, and a disco ball built the atmosphere. Behind them, rated walls separated the kitchen while rated glass preserved the sightline into its operation. Visualization, construction documents, fabricator coordination, city review, and field decisions kept the concept intact without compromising fire and life safety.

The two rooms moved from permitted interior to lived-in atmosphere.
The two rooms moved from permitted interior to lived-in atmosphere.
Permit-set detail linking design intent to field execution.
Permit-set detail linking design intent to field execution.

At a glance

Concept-to-opening deliveryRated kitchen separationADA and life-safety coordination

In the record

Material and lighting studiesPermit / construction setRated-glass field detailReflected-ceiling and lighting coordinationADA restroom detailsInspection and punch closeout

Caleta and Bad Habit at opening.
Caleta and Bad Habit at opening.
Red light, black tile, and mirrored surfaces carried the concept into the dining room.
Red light, black tile, and mirrored surfaces carried the concept into the dining room.
Bad Habit extended the project from architecture into product and atmosphere.
Bad Habit extended the project from architecture into product and atmosphere.
01

Translate attitude

A black, reflective, red-lit palette rejected the expected genre without giving up hospitality or operational clarity.

02

Resolve the code

Rated glass maintained the design-critical connection to the kitchen while satisfying fire separation.

03

Carry it through

Modeling, drawings, fabricators, permits, inspections, and punch were treated as one continuous design responsibility.