Sun Valley, Idaho, is North America’s original ski resort. We were asked to create a new venue in their village – a family-friendly, casual dining space that would appeal to a wide range of guests. 3DS conceived, designed, and fabricated the new Village Station Restaurant. It fills that need perfectly, while paying homage to the Union Pacific Railroad, the company that built the resort.
We focused quickly on the fact that Sun Valley is very much a place of ‘Firsts’. We made a list of them and developed it into an entire wall display, as an anchor feature, at one end of the restaurant. The biggest First, however, is that the chairlift itself was invented in Sun Valley, by Union Pacific engineers. We gave that story a full wall, with vintage photos and working drawings. The centrepiece is the story told in detail on a fully operative Split-Flap “Solari” Board, exactly like the ones used for decades to announce arrivals & departures in the world’s most famous train stations. The decor is an elegant yet affable mix of Midcentury and Contemporary, with a trace of Art Deco. A solid walnut bartop spans the room with a beautifully-inlaid polished aluminum motif and visitors are greeted by an 8-foot marble floor inlay compass that pays tribute to the grandest of old train stations. Opening at the end of 2017, the Village Station immediately became Sun Valley’s most popular venue.