Best New Room - No. 6: 150 N Out Billiards (Mooresville, N.C.)

SPOTTED APPROXIMATELY 25 miles north of Charlotte, Mooresville, N.C., is best known for its ties to NASCAR racing, with a number of notable drivers, teams, and affiliated companies calling the quaint Carolina town home. Robert Toth, meanwhile, is looking to inject a healthy dose of another sport into Mooresville's DNA - billiards.

The owner of 150 n Out Billiards and Darts, Toth, a one-time poolhall owner in New Jersey, took a former YMCA gym and transformed it into one of Mooresville's most compelling new attractions. Where once stood a basketball court, aerobics area and weight room now stand 17 9-foot Olhausen Grand Champion tables (and one 7-footer), a modern, full-service kitchen serving plated meals such as homemade lasagna, 215 bar stools lining the hall's perimeter, and six dart boards inviting friendly games and wagers.

In spite of its additional amenities, Toth says 150 n Out remains centrally focused on pool, the design and layout pined over to create the most pleasant and comfortable play experience. Unlike Toth's previous spot in Jersey where tables were tight, 150 n Out's tables are spaced out a minimum of seven feet, many gaining as much as 13 feet from the nearest table. A bar top running the length of the poolhall and a glass wall ("The fish tank where the sharks swim," Toth jokes) separates the tables from meandering, conversing or dining patrons.

"It creates an environment where the pool tables are for the players," Toth says, admitting that he traded floor space to create the player-friendly layout.

Hall of Famer Earl Strickland recently visited 150 n Out and told Toth that he had "built the ideal poolhall for people to play." For Toth, whose hall also welcomes the professional likes of Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher and Gerda Hofstatter, greater praise couldn't have come his way.

To further the hall's spacious feel, Toth bypassed ceiling tiles, though he retained the grid-like system. The design choice not only eliminates the lingering poolhall perception of a dingy and cramped space by improving air circulation, but also saved Toth 1,000 feet of cable for lighting. He's completed the space with 10 big-screen TVs and one eight-foot projection screen television.

Though Toth pledged a sizable investment to create the full-service kitchen, it allows the kitchen allows 150 n Out to enter the catering game, handled by Toth's restaurant-savvy wife, Janice.

"And that's just not something we could have pursued had we not been a little forward thinking and ambitious," Toth says.

Toth also offers a monthly VIP membership card for $25. The VIP treatment affords the hall's loyal patrons $3 tables as well as food, beverage and pro shop discounts while simultaneously fostering loyalty for the infant establishment.

"We're not the most posh place, but we're for the pool players and I'm happy with that," Toth said.

Best New Room - No. 7: Hotel Daugirdas (Kaunas, Lithuania)

Somewhat of a hybrid entry into this year's Architecture & Design Awards, this application came to BD from the town of Kaunas, Lithuania. Ricardas Andriuskevicius, deputy director of Bilijardai JSC, installed these two tables into the Hotel Daugirdas in the country's second largest city in April 2010.

Definitely pleasing to the eyes, this space was a bit of an oddity. This isn't exactly a commercial poolroom, because the tables are free of charge for hotel guests and were installed in rooms that were not altered at all. At the same time, this playing space isn't necessarily a home room, since even the most well-worn travelers would hardly call a hotel a home. So consider the two billiard tables at the Hotel Daugirdas as a natural segue from one portion of this year's contest to the next.

Along with the four-star accommodations at the Hotel Daugirdas, guests can enjoy this pair of dinner-pool conversion tables, with one in the lobby bar area (top photo) and the other in the terrace (bottom photo). While the setting and lighting appear to be unconventional, both areas offer a cool, contemporary spot to shoot a game or two, should you ever find yourself in central Lithuania.

"We didn't make any changes to the interior," Andriuskevicius says. "Instead, we designed the tables to fit in with the space that was already there. The guests have really enjoyed both tables."

The two Pronto Series tables from Bilijardai JSC came with a total price tag of $7,000.

Previous Page Page 4 Next Page
Top