The design of the Hayden Cafe, located within the Platform Hayden Tract Shopping complex, began with the need to separate two spaces. A chief design challenge was how to incorporate an intimate wine and oyster bar into an existing lighting showroom by Tom Dixon. Studio Jesse James came up with the concept to create a wine "spine" wall that solved three problems: to act as a physical barrier, to store up to 90 bottles of wine, and to be able to create a unique identity within an existing space. They achieved this by laying out a series of vertical plywood fins connected primarily by bent metal cubbies that housed the wine itself.  The fins were also unique to each side; on the Tom Dixon side SJJ designed a sculptural undulating form, and on the Hayden Cafe side, they created a more orthogonal grid that helped inform the design language of the cafe. In addition, to lighten the mood in the large industrial space and to create a more intimate atmosphere, SJJ stuck to a simplified design palette composed of black metal, plywood, marble, and plants.  Many of the elements were custom designed to provide cohesion to this simplified palette, such as the plywood banquette with exposed metal structure, floating plywood shelves, and cabinetry to match the fin wall. The space was capped off with a grid pattern of Tom Dixon Black Stout lights which further visually integrated the two spaces.