Hard Rock Café Tampa
Tampa, Florida

OWNER: Seminole Band of Indians
INTERIOR DESIGNER: 555 Design Fabrication Management
CONTRACTOR: KHS&S
TOTAL INVESTMENT: Approximately $12 million

In 2010, when Hard Rock International retrofitted a former Tampa nightclub as its latest Hard Rock Café, it chose “a grand gesture” to define the interior bar.
   
And grand it certainly is: the dramatic canopy, developed by KHS&S Contractors of Tampa and Anaheim and Radius Track Corporation of Minneapolis, includes five steel arches made up of a series of complex, compound curves that recall the famous Hollywood Bowl.
   
At its largest dimensions, the contemporary frame is 19 feet high, 49 feet wide and 41 feet long, and soars above the 17,500-square-foot “rockcentric” venue, which will serve as the prototype for other Hard Rock Cafés opening around the world this year.
   
The archway was created using Building Information Modeling 3D technology (BIM), which enabled the designers to create the unique arches off-site to exacting dimensions, and install them ahead of deadline. In April, the project won an award of merit in the Excellence in Construction Awards, sponsored by the Gulf Coast chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.
   
All Hard Rock locations are known for their collections of rock memorabilia. The Tampa location also has an interactive “Rock Wall,” which describes the memorabilia, including an autographed fedora once worn by King of Pop Michael Jackson, the guitar used to record the Lynyrd Skynyrd rock anthem “Free Bird,” and a necklace of safety pins made by Jim Morrison of the Doors.
   
The Hard Rock Café Tampa, inside the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, also is the first and so far only café in the 40-year-old franchise to include a blackjack pit.
   
Interior designer 555 Design Fabrication Management of Chicago devised rock-themed architectural details like six-foot chandeliers fabricated from interior speaker cones; wall niches containing crystal LED lights; hanging light fixtures made of stacked drum cymbals; and thousands of guitar amplifier cords strung together and hung as modern art beside the band shell stage.
   
The dining area seats around 300 people; patio dining is also available. The Hard Rock Café officially opened in January