Reese Casas

Time-keeping is a restaurant for fermented dishes, a reflection into our time together as something worth keeping. A space for people to slow down and enter a state of reflection, not for themselves but for each other. In the process of fermentation, doing nothing is the desired outcome, thus this slow ‘unproductive’ method becomes a utensil for guests. Situated in the corner of Remuera Road and Nuffield Street, where a busy road meets a still and quiet street, a mirror to Broadway Street.

Upon arrival, the recessed threshold orients passerby and guests a moment to slow down. Inside the fermentation workspace, guests come in to prepare and preserve fermented ingredients of their own. Once aged, these are eventually used by chefs in their dishes to be served back to the guests.

If the simple act of stopping to show care for others is deemed unproductive, how can I design a space that does ‘nothing’? Can caring for something and someone else be worth something? Time-keeping prompts users of Newmarket to break their hyper-productive mindsets, by pausing to take notice and take time for each other and the world around them. It is a reflection into what living could be.