Crowd Control

Noma Installed ‘Buffer’ Garden to Prevent Gawkers From Creeping Out Diners

This guy was sick of fighting off crowds.
This guy was sick of fighting off crowds. Photo: Keld Navantoft/AFP/Getty Images

One downside to being a restaurant of international renown in a touristy part of Copenhagen? The voyeur vibe from foodie rubberneckers trying to peek through the giant, floor-to-ceiling windows. It turns out that the innocent garden Noma installed last fall was really intended to quietly deter these “curious minds.” Cobblestones ran all the way up to the building’s foundation at pre-buffer Noma, but now what is possibly the most aesthetically pleasing crowd-control barrier ever positions evergreens and Icelandic lava rocks in the way, the idea being to “create a buffer zone around the restaurant” instead of a “red rope in front” — which would, among other things, unforgivably clash with the Nordic style. Somehow, René Redzepi’s decision to flank the place with beehives now feels even more strategic. [Guardian]

Noma Installed ‘Buffer’ Garden to Prevent Gawkers From Creeping Out