Ever Restaurant — Case Study
Silence is the best seasoning.
Creating a hotly anticipated new space for Chicago’s foremost chefs
When chef Curtis Duffy and restaurateur Michael Muser decided to launch Ever, Lawton Stanley Architects was a natural fit. Ten years prior, LSA had designed the pair’s previous space, the wildly successful Grace, which went on to earn three Michelin stars and universal acclaim as one of Chicago’s best restaurants. Ever would take Duffy’s artistry to new heights, delivering a transcendent tasting menu of 12 to 15 courses ranging from raw to refined. For Ever and LSA, this was more than an architectural challenge: it was an opportunity to reflect on their parallel paths since Grace. LSA therefore approached the project based on the idea of a journey: a translation of Duffy’s evolution and an invitation to an unparalleled culinary adventure.
Amplifying taste by turning down the volume on every other sense
LSA envisioned a multisensory sequence to guide guests physically, mentally, and emotionally from the bustling Fulton Market to the serenity of the Ever dining room. Entering through a foyer, guests would proceed down a corridor with acoustically reflective walls of hand-layered Venetian gray plaster, arriving at the Ma Room, a liminal space clad in American white ash with soft light and softer acoustics. One passageway remained, the final stage before emerging into the silent sanctuary of the dining room. LSA turned to Turf to shape an acoustic solution for the final corridor and dining room that would set the tone for the meal, and then keep diners’ senses focused on the taste and poetry of each dish. We needed to mask hardware, mirror the curved walls, keep lighting visible, eliminate light penetration, and of course, trap echo.
Shaping a solution that keeps the focus on exquisite textures and flavors
LSA brought color, look, feel, and SketchUp models of their vision. In response, Turf conceived a customized baffle design based on a modified version of our Datum system to better meet the aesthetic and functional challenge at hand. Our team folded each baffle over once for superior dampening, coordinated placement around light fixtures, and added a cap that secures four to five baffles into “cloud” modules, helping LSA obscure the dining room ceiling completely while providing even stronger acoustic dampening. Mortise and tenon joints keep the felt system in alignment and hide gaps. Working in 3D and prototypes, we workshopped the solution with LSA to precisely match their laser measurements and coordinated with the installers to ensure easy on-site application.
"The strength of the Turf product was that it could be customized in a way that turned it into a field condition that was both very precise, but a texture at the same time. It’s very different from other products that are off-the-shelf, where it just is what it is and you need to work around it."
Micah Stanley, Lawton Stanley Architects
Using acoustics as a compass for a transcendent culinary journey
Today, when guests take the final step of this ritualized entrance and enter the Ever dining room, they’re met with something like an atmospheric shift. Sound hushes. Light glows. Servers glide in and out of the kitchen with the last or next great dish. In the course of a few moments, they’ve traveled from a hectic Chicago street to a temple of high cuisine, and are ready to receive a masterclass in fine dining from chef Curtis Duffy. Since opening at the height of the pandemic, Ever has received two Michelin stars and accolades in outlets like The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune. For Turf, Ever represents a pure union of acoustics and aesthetics: living proof that sound defines the way we experience the world.