The original Silencio, a subterranean club in Paris designed by filmmaker David Lynch, is the stuff of dreams. Inspired by Club Silencio in Lynch’s Mulholland Drive and opened as a members-only club in 2011, the Paris destination was a cave whose barrel-vaulted ceiling was covered in a jumble of gold-leaf rectangles bathed in pinkish light. (Beyond Lynch’s scenography and concept, Raphael Navot provided art direction and interior design, supported by ENIA architects.) Like many club designs of the 1990s and early 2000s, reflectivity, blur, and the promiscuous possibility of late-night socialization reigned. The club was frequented by visionaries like Prince, Pharrell Williams, and Virgil Abloh. It later opened additional franchises in Ibiza and on the left bank in Paris. Now, Silencio lands in the Big Apple with an exclusive venue in Hell’s Kitchen designed by Crosby Studios.
Nightclubs orbit a central point of gravity: “It’s all about dancing or looking at who is dancing,” Harry Nuriev, who leads Crosby Studios, told Vogue. At Silencio in New York, red velvet adorns the walls, with edges outlined in linear lighting, and the floor is a literal red carpet. Private rooms are lined in gold paint, acting as intimate salons away from—but in view of—the main dancefloor. A DJ booth stands by itself, fronting another raised VIP zone able to be cordoned off with a curtain. The entire interior, which has a capacity of 300, glows red, an homage both to Lynch’s red room from Twin Peaks and the buzzing neon of New York.
Nuriev, who works between Paris and New York, drew inspiration from the flair of the original location while stripping it down for its latest iteration. The bar program will be led by Remy Savage, while eclectic programming will arrive when the space fully opens: Musical performances and DJ sets will fill the air of the night.
Silencio is a global club whose members gain access to a range of events: concerts, performances, talks, screenings, exhibitions, dinners, private tours, and more. The wide-ranging programming aims to be multidisciplinary and establish a space of freedom.
The opening party in New York was already a scene: It hosted a celebration for a new exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum with art from the private collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. Attendees included painter Kehinde Wiley and The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s CEO Max Hollein; along with Arnaud Frisch, a founder of the venue and its CEO.
Nuriev’s Silencio remix adds a fresh take on the dark, surreal oeuvre of Lynch’s films, which the designer grew up watching. Silenco is otherworldly both in space and time: It is a windowless wonderland that’s open from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., Thursday through Saturday—a new sexy destination for things that go bump in the night.