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A Table With a View: 7 Ways Architects Are Upselling Restaurant Design
CategoriesArchitecture

A Table With a View: 7 Ways Architects Are Upselling Restaurant Design

By Zarkon Group,

Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.

As the chef’s adage goes, you eat with your eyes first. Beyond the confines of the plate, a restaurant’s spatial character is the vital ingredient that underlies every meal. While crispy basil leaves and elegant reels of tagliatelle can conjure up fields of sun-dappled groves beneath a Tuscan sun, so too can the undulating curves of a vaulted ceiling or carefully articulated patterns of light.

The unique power of architecture in the hospitality sphere is something the architects of these winning restaurants from the 11th A+Awards know well. From pioneering approaches to sustainability to striking cultural invocations and immersive visual storytelling, each offers an extraordinary new riff on traditional restaurant typologies. Add one part impeccable spatial planning to one part design innovation and mix well — here are seven ways architects are revolutionizing the eatery.

1. Evoking Distant Terrains

Taiga by Park + Associates, Singapore

Popular Choice Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Restaurants (S <1000 sq ft)

Taiga by Park + Associates Taiga by Park + AssociatesWhile it may be nestled amid the bustling cityscape of Singapore, this astonishing Japanese restaurant channels the topography of the chef’s native Kochi Prefecture, over 3,000 miles away. A diptych relief painting of a tumultuous rock formation conceals the eatery’s entrance. Stepping through the parted canvas is like stepping into the mountain itself — diners negotiate twists and turns as they navigate the architectural ‘foothills.’

The cocooning, cave-like dining space is texturally rich and immersive. Rugged split-face granite is emboldened by downlighting, while the backlit saké bar is flanked by a glowing onyx rock formation articulated in a graphic 3D surface design. Throughout, metallic finishes glisten as though the restaurant were hollowed out from a mineral vein.

2. Revising the Vernacular

Shanshui Firewood Garden by Mix Architecture, Yibin, China

Popular Choice Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Sustainable Hospitality Building

Shanshui Firewood Garden by Mix Architecture Shanshui Firewood Garden by Mix ArchitectureThis extraordinary restaurant in rural Sichuan province takes inspiration from the region’s architectural vernacular. Traditional low, far-reaching eaves offer ventilation and shelter from the elements, while a central courtyard pool blurs the boundary between organic and built landscapes. Curved lines define the interior dining space, which is dissected into more intimate zones, each offering a glimpse of a different rural outlook.

The structure itself comprises red sandstone blocks from the mountains of Sichuan, hewn into usual fish scales, while firewood, the backbone of the area’s agricultural life, is entwined throughout the design. One of its most powerful iterations is the hanging curtain of suspended timber blocks, which encases the structure in a magnificent porous skin. These familiar local materials are skillfully reimagined in unfamiliar ways.

3. Experimenting With Timber Tectonics

Prime Seafood Palace by Omar Gandhi Architects, Toronto, Canada

Popular Choice Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Restaurants (L >1000 sq ft)

Prime Seafood Palace by Omar Gandhi Architects Prime Seafood Palace by Omar Gandhi ArchitectsBold in its monochrome execution, this Toronto restaurant was conceived as a mesmerizing timber cathedral. Rather than being shaped by the transient whims of interior trends, the architects opted for an evolving natural material palette that would patina and shift with the passage of time.

Enveloping slats line the vaulted barrel ceiling, extending down over the apertures across one aspect of the dining zone. The effect is a soft diffusion of natural light. Wood here is employed as a protective layer from the city outside — it softens the visual and acoustic experience, carving out an ethereal space at arm’s reach from the hustle and bustle.

4. Celebrating Salvage

Project Big Top by Multitude of Sins, Bangalore, India

Jury Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Sustainable Interior Project

Project Big Top by Multitude of Sins Project Big Top by Multitude of SinsWhile many in the industry pay lip service to sustainability, this whimsical restaurant in Bangalore is a true celebration of reuse. 90% of its material fabric comprises recycled and salvaged elements, resulting in a playful, architectural patchwork of curios. Inspired by the spectacle of the circus, the entrance is framed by a ripple of teal arches crafted from scrap metal, while chandeliers shaped from bike chains and metal filings hang overhead.

In the main two-story dining area, a wall of discarded electronics, fixtures and furnishings forms an elaborate collage of waste. The result of this magnificent mismatched interior is two-fold. On the one hand, the fantastical space is an artistic hub of escapism, yet on the other, it subtly reinforces a powerful environmental message.

5. Honoring the Rural Landscape

Steirereck am Pogusch by PPAG architects, Turnau, Austria

Jury Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Restaurants (L >1000 sq ft)
Jury Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Sustainable Hospitality Building

Steirereck am Pogusch by PPAG architects Steirereck am Pogusch by PPAG architectsSequestered in the Austrian Alps, this pioneering restaurant complex is rooted in its rural mountain locale. The various buildings, some old, some new, form a self-sufficient culinary village that encompasses dining areas, prep kitchens, staff zones, guest accommodation and a kitchen garden. Across the estate, the verdant landscape is never far from view. In one of the restaurants, swaths of glazing encircle the space. Slatted timber dividers create permeable divisions between tables, ensuring the breathtaking outlook takes center stage.

One of the complex’s newer interventions is a pioneering glass structure — a hybrid greenhouse and living space. Ingeniously, the atmosphere symbiotically supports residents and plant life. The structure is stepped into the incline of the hillside, respectful of the rhythms of the existing terrain.

6. Fusing Nostalgia and Futurism

Super Paradise Beach Club by Omniview Design, Mykonos, Greece

Popular Choice Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Popular Choice Winner

Super Paradise beach club by Omniview Design Super Paradise beach club by Omniview DesignThe artful revival of this historic beach bar on the Greek island of Mykonos has resulted in a fascinating collision of architectural languages. The unembellished whitewashed walls and rustic, traditional materials including wood and bamboo hark back to the Cycladic vernacular. Historic emblems play out across the scheme — hollows inset into the walls create display nooks around the bar and entryway.

However, the handling of these elements is strikingly futuristic. Complex, curvilinear geometries orchestrated by state-of-the-art technology result in flowing lines that appear otherworldly. The project reads as a fusion of timelines, merging to create an enigmatic space that defies categorization.

7. Architecturalizing Nature

Ling Ling by Sordo Madaleno, Mexico City, Mexico

Jury Winner, 11th Annual A+Awards, Restaurants (S <1000 sq ft)

Ling Ling by Sordo Madaleno Ling Ling by Sordo MadalenoPoised at the top of one of Mexico City’s highest skyscrapers, this extraordinary restaurant subverts expectations. Floating over the city, a flourishing garden unfurls, taking its design cues from the terraces and courtyards prevalent in Mexican architecture. In the triple-height dining zone, a lofty portico structure intertwined with greenery creates a biophilic cathedral of sorts.

In the inner bar and salon, the spatial proportions contract. An innovative vaulted timber framework hangs above patrons. Crafted using intricate stereotomy techniques, the layers of wood ebb and flow in undulations. Trunk-like columns rise to form a canopy overhead, as though, inexplicably, an architectural forest had taken root on the 56th floor.

Architizer is thrilled to announce the winners of the 11th Annual A+Awards! Interested in participating next season? Sign up for key information about the 12th Annual A+Awards, set to launch this fall.

Reference

Casa Dosmurs by Mesura “disappears entirely from the street’s view”
CategoriesArchitecture

Casa Dosmurs by Mesura “disappears entirely from the street’s view”

By Zarkon Group,

Spanish studio Mesura has created a brick and concrete house that steps down a steep hill and features giant windows that frame the surrounding Mediterranean landscape.

Named Casa Dosmurs, the home is designed to blend in with its site in the residential area of Alella in Catalonia, Spain, with its flat roof the only part visible from the adjacent street.

Casa Dosmurs' flat roof in Alella, Spain by Mesura
Mesura has completed Casa Dosmurs in Spain

“The house is set apart from the street and adjacent constructions by hiding between two bare walls that follow the site’s abrupt slope,” said architecture studio Mesura.

“Thus, the house disappears entirely from the street’s view.”

Interior of brick and concrete living room by Mesura
At the core of the house is a double-height living space

Casa Dosmurs comprises a spacious open-plan living and dining area, alongside two bedrooms. It is designed by Mesura to have an “​​honest” aesthetic, achieved using common structural materials such as brick and prefabricated concrete panels that are left exposed inside.

“Following the idea of ​​’honest architecture’, where we show how the house has been built, all the concrete structure is left visible,” the studio told Dezeen.

Upper level of Casa Dosmurs by Mesura
Giant windows frame the Mediterranean landscape

While it is concealed from view on one side, the home opens up to the sea on the other through its wide windows. The glazing extends up from the double-height living area to the mezzanine level above where the two bedrooms are found.

Connected to a private garden, the two bedrooms can be totally or partially closed off with folding wooden partitions that Mesura designed to cater for different levels of privacy, light and ventilation.

Bedroom with floor mattress and brick walls
The bedrooms connect to a garden

Inside, Casa Dosmurs’ internal walls are covered by bricks with vertical cuts on their surface and with varying rotations in some places for a playful finish.

Minimalist furniture is dotted throughout, with pieces by local companies including rug brand Nanimarquina and lighting brand Santa&Cole, and Barcelona-based furniture and product designer Max Enrich.

Living room featuring minimalist furniture inside Casa Dosmurs
Bricks and concrete are left exposed throughout

According to the studio, the home was assembled on-site in just three days thanks to the prefabricated concrete panels, which also helped minimise material waste.

“Working with a structural system made in the workshop was for three reasons,” explained Mesura.

“For the precision of its execution in the workshop, the efficiency in assembling the house on a very difficult terrain due to its slope and quality of the land, and for the reduction of material,” added the studio.

Casa Dosmurs is complete with a flat roof that acts as an open terrace overlooking the landscape.

Metallic chair next to a window in Spanish house by Mesura
Minimalist furniture features throughout

Mesura is an architecture studio based in Barcelona that was founded in 2010 by Benjamin Iborra Wicksteed and Carlos Dimas Carmona.

Previous projects by the studio include a house extension with a scalloped roofline and a concrete and stone home bisected by an outdoor terrace.

The photography is by Maxime Delvaux.

Reference

building soulfulness’ exhibition on view in japan
CategoriesArchitecture

building soulfulness’ exhibition on view in japan

By Zarkon Group,

‘heatherwick studio: building soulfulness’ at mori art museum 

 

Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum is hosting its latest exhibition, Heatherwick Studio: Building Soulfulness, a poetic exploration into the type of architecture embued with heartfelt spirit. On show between Friday, March 17, and Sunday, June 4, 2023, at Tokyo City View, this is the first exhibition in Japan to display 28 major projects completed by Heatherwick Studio.

 

‘By looking at the projects – all of which are the result of a process of trial and error, where familiar structures and functions are reassessed, and new ideas are realized – from six different viewpoints: ‘Coming Together;’ ‘Connecting with Everyone;’ ‘Experiencing Sculptural Space;’ ‘Feeling Nature in Urban Space;’ ‘Bringing Memories to the Future;’ and ‘Playing and Using,’ the exhibition will explore what type of architecture brings with it the sort of kindness, beauty, intellectual stimulation and empathy that move the human heart,’ writes the museum. 

new heatherwick studio exhibition in japan uncovers the soulfulness of architecture
‘Little Island’ (2021), New York | image © Timothy Schenck

 

 

exploring how buildings can touch the human heart

 

From New York to Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, Heatherwick Studio (see more here) has marked the global architectural scene with its innovative portfolio of projects. Founded in 1994 by Thomas Heatherwick, the practice often debuts its projects with the question: Can the sprawling buildings and urban spaces that make our cities and towns also be imbued with this soulfulness? With that said, and in retrospect, Thomas’ childhood memories also reveal an early-age fascination with how craftspeople and artisans endow small objects with a kind of soulfulness so unique to the art of everything handmade, gently etching and weaving into every detail. 

new heatherwick studio exhibition in japan uncovers the soulfulness of architecture
Shanghai Expo UK Pavilion (2010) | image © Iwan Baan

 

 

‘Every design is rooted in a belief that even projects as large as a city can have a human-scale, while harnessing the energies of the natural world and memories contained within architecture into new designs. At the core of this approach is the creation of places for gathering, dialogue, recreation, and enjoyment, instead of the design of ‘hard’ elements that so often characterize products and buildings,’ continues the museum. 

 

‘Even as the Studio studies the history of objects and places, researches a wide spectrum of materials, and pays homage to traditional craftsmanship, their spaces, which deploy the latest developments in engineering, are replete with innovative ideas that seem to have eluded everyone else. As the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and we re-evaluate our relationship with both the built and the natural environments, Heatherwick Studio’s designs feel more evocative and relevant than ever.’

 

Some of the projects on view include ‘Little Island’ (2021), a sculptural public park in New York; ‘Azabudai Hills’ (2023), a new district in Tokyo currently under construction, and the studio’s first project in Japan; The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (2017), a public non-profit museum; and the Shanghai Expo UK Pavilion (2010), also known as the ‘Seed Cathedral.’ 

new heatherwick studio exhibition in japan uncovers the soulfulness of architecture
The Zeitz Museum  of Contemporary Art Africa (2017), Cape Town | image © Iwan Baan

Reference

Ten contemporary bathrooms designed to take advantage of the view
CategoriesInterior Design

Ten contemporary bathrooms designed to take advantage of the view

By Zarkon Group,

In our latest Dezeen Lookbook, we’ve rounded up 10 minimal bathrooms with incredible views, including a house on the Isle of Skye with a bath overlooking a loch and a jungle cabin with a glass-walled shower.


This is the latest roundup in a series providing visual inspiration for the home. Previous articles in the series showcased living rooms with calm interiors, peaceful bedrooms and domestic bathrooms designed by architects. Read more “Ten contemporary bathrooms designed to take advantage of the view”

I IN revamps Tokyo apartment to change Japanese view of renovations
CategoriesInterior Design

I IN revamps Tokyo apartment to change Japanese view of renovations

By Zarkon Group,

Reeded glass partitions, stucco walls and red walnut joinery feature in this renovation of a compact apartment in Tokyo by local studio I IN.


Created for Smarg, the renovation arm of Japanese real estate firm Goodlife, The Life concept apartment was designed to reframe the way that Japanese homeowners perceive renovated apartments.

Built-in walnut wood wardrobe with decorative vase in The Life concept apartment
Red walnut joinery features throughout the apartment (top and above)

“There is a common image of renovated apartments in Japan, which is not always positive,” said I IN.

“The majority of people prefer new buildings and spaces because of their appearance and reinforced structures as we have earthquakes.”

Kitchen with walnut wood shelves in Tokyo flat interior by I IN
The kitchen cupboards are rendered in the same wood

To combat this preconception, I IN was commissioned to turn a 56-square-metre one-bed in a 1980s residential building into an understated luxury residence.

Set within Tokyo’s eastern Suitengūmae neighbourhood, the flat features an open-plan layout with the kitchen, living room and bedroom all located in one connected space.

Reeded glass partitions and wood cupboard in The Life concept apartment
Reeded glass partitions separate the bathroom from the living area

The kitchen sits at one end of the flat while the bedroom sits at the other, with the bed hidden from view behind a built-in walnut sideboard that the architects said serves as a “soft separation”. To separate these two domains, the living area was placed at the centre of the space.

I IN incorporated a palette of neutral colours and subtle textures throughout to create a light, restful and calming ambience.

Bathroom entrance with glass walls and decorative vases in The Life concept apartment
The screens allow light to filter into the windowless bathroom

Reeded glass partition walls allow light to penetrate into the windowless toilet and bathroom while red walnut joinery, polished chrome lighting fixtures and off-white stucco walls were chosen to evoke a sense of luxury.

“We wanted to show the wooden architectural essence from old Japan through the texture of the wood and the three-dimensional layers of light, which you see in sci-fi movies,” I IN told Dezeen.

“The soft ambience from the slit light and textured glass was also important.”

In the future, the studio says the plan is to roll the design out to other buildings in central Tokyo.

I IN, which was founded by interior designers Yohei Terui and Hiromu Yuyama in 2018, was previously shortlisted for small retail interior of the year at the 2020 Dezeen Awards.

Bedroom with built-in wooden wardrobe and reeded glass partitions in interior by I IN
The bedroom is hidden from view thanks to another glass partition

Other renovated Tokyo flats featured on Dezeen include an overhauled 1960s apartment by design studio Minorpoet, which has its kitchen hidden behind folding wooden doors, and a refurbished flat by architect Masatoshi Hira where a family of four shares one bedroom, living space and wardrobe.

Photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.

Reference