CASE STUDY - Duke`s Chowder House

Duke’s Chowder House featuring Bamboo Hardwoods
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A Combination of Bamboo
Showcases the Friendly, Charming
and Unpretentious Atmosphere at
Duke’s
Chowder
House
The next time you stroll through an upscale shopping mall looking for a nice place to grab lunch, take the time to notice
the restaurants within that seem to stand out from the rest. Though you may not recognize it at the time, there’s often a
common reason why some catch your eye over the others. More than likely, the interior design incorporates materials and
designs that create a harmonious blend of style, charm and invitation – thus almost luring hungry shoppers inside for a
meal. And for one particular restaurant within Westfield’s South Center Mall of Seattle – one of Seattle’s busiest malls – a
design looking to purposely impress a casual, yet unpretentious dining experience while seamlessly melding a long-lasting
Pacific Northwest casual elegance was desired.
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The Solution.
Located at six locations throughout the greater Seattle
area, Duke’s Chowder House is synonymous with the best
seafood that the Pacific Northwest can offer – delivering
the truest Puget Sound restaurant experience on a daily
basis for over 35 years. The overall formula at Duke’s is
fairly straightforward and simple: combine great food
with a casual, unassuming dining atmosphere. But
just as times change, so did this veritable ‘chowderrific’
institution when designing their latest location. “We really
wanted to update and modernize our interior ambiance
while still paying homage to the traditional Duke’s feel
our customers know and love,” explained Duke Moscrip,
a former stockbroker who left the financial world in
the 1970s to begin the Duke’s Chowder House chain.
“Upscale restaurants are continually competing for wouldbe diners, so I wanted to create a unique yet durable
space that would really differentiate us from the others.”
FEATURED PRODUCTS
Restaurant Floor / SUITE Tiger Bamboo Flooring
Booth Seating / BH’s Bamboo Panels in Tiger
Table Tops, Bar Top, Casework / VG Carbonized Panels
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“This color styling melds dark and
light strands of bamboo...for a
unique look underfoot that can
withstand high-traffic settings.”
One of the ways Duke’s distinguished this particular
interior space was through a very unique style of bamboo
flooring and paneling, utilized throughout the restaurant
dining and bar areas for both its durability properties and
unique design aesthetics. Whereas the design at most
existing Duke’s locations showcases waterfront views
amidst a casual nautical motif and tiki-torch vibe, the
newest location utilized 6,000 square feet of premiumgrade of engineered bamboo flooring called HYBRID from
Bamboo Hardwoods, finished in a color combination
called ‘Tiger.’ This color styling melds dark and light
strands of bamboo into an organic pattern, for a unique
look underfoot that can withstand high-traffic settings.
Additionally, coordinating bamboo panels were utilized for
the dining booths and main counter-height bar – providing
a durable and elegant design backdrop mixed with an
updated styling for the tens-of-thousands diners that walk
through Duke’s doors each year.
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“...the Tiger flooring color combines
a pleasing look and hard-wearing
attributes – especially important in
commercial settings...”
“Because our bamboo flooring is manufactured via a
strand-woven process, it essentially doubles the density of
traditional bamboo and is extremely durable…especially
important in commercial applications,” explains David
Keegan, Chief Operating Officer of Bamboo Hardwoods.
“And the Tiger flooring color combines a pleasing look
and hard-wearing attributes – especially important
in commercial settings like a well-know restaurant
like Duke’s.” HYBRID is just one of the many bamboo
flooring lines from Bamboo Hardwoods, all measuring
over 3,000 on the Janka Hardness Scale – an industry
standard hardness rating to measure a floor’s strength
and resistance to denting – making a flooring product
more resistant than maple, oak and even Brazilian cherry.
All Bamboo Hardwoods product lines are available
in a wide selection of colors and styles, alongside a
large assortment of matching paneling accessories
and transition pieces to complement a wide array of
residential and commercial décor styles, as exemplified
within Duke’s Chowder House.
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Since Duke’s in the South Center Mall opened in early 2008, the updated look has resonated
well with diners while withstanding the high-traffic numbers. “Many customers comment that
The Result.
this location is like an updated ‘new-and-improved look for Duke’s’ and I have to think the
unique bamboo used throughout is a big part of that,” said Moscrip. “There’s been little-to-no
maintenance to date as it’s really held up nicely; and best of all, customers like the updated
design and keep choosing to dine with us…which is especially important to me.”
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