Banter Beer & Wine
Banter Beer & Wine, Cleveland, OH
Restaurant/ Renovation - built
Project Designer, Renderings, Construction Administration
Horton Harper Architects
Fall 2021 - Spring 2024
// The interior renovation of Banter Beer & Wine draws from the Danish principles of “hygge” to cultivate warmth, intimacy, and material comfort within a historic Cleveland, Ohio storefront. Referencing the atmospheres of traditional clubhouses and libraries, the project prioritizes texture, tonal depth, and spatial continuity as tools for shaping experience. Rather than treating the interior as a series of isolated zones, the design frames the space as a connected sequence organized through contrast and transition. Two primary environments structure the plan; a darker, dimmer, more enclosed bar area serving as the entry and a brighter, open dining space. Large operable windows extend this dialogue outward, engaging the street and reinforcing visual permeability. A central birch plywood volume mediates between the spaces, integrating a retail area while also functioning as a spatial threshold. Passing through this element, patrons enter a dining area articilated by a slatted screen, built-in banquette seating, and a geometric mirrored wall amplifying depth and light.
team: Westleigh Harper (lead author), Halley Novak
