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Hiba Restaurant

Pitsou Kedem Architects

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dining area, view towards the inverted bar - Amit Geron
dining area, view towards the entrance corridor - Amit Geron
a view from the dining area to the open kitchen - Amit Geron
dining area, view towards the inverted bar - Amit Geron

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Restaurant
7.83
7.98
8.28
7.19
7.82
Nathan Watts
Nathan Watts Creative Director at Interstore
Somewhere i'd like to work!...
6
8
7
8
7.25
Ting Yu
Ting Yu Chief Architect at Wutopia Lab
4
5
4
5
4.5
Frank Lee
Frank Lee Founder and President at Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology
5
5
5
5
5
Simon Goff
Simon Goff Founder and Director at Floor_Story
Really like the work from home feel...
6
7
8
7
7
Janne van Berlo
Janne van Berlo Founder at Atelier van Berlo
5
7
7
6
6.25
Nic Granleese
Nic Granleese CEO and Cofounder at BowerBird
5
5
5
5
5
Lorcan O'Herlihy
Lorcan O'Herlihy Founder, Design Principal at Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]
5
6
5
5
5.25
Tobias Geisler
Tobias Geisler Cofounder at VAVE Studio
4
5
4
5
4.5
Victoria Yakusha
Victoria Yakusha Founder and chief architect at Yakusha Studio & FAINA Collection of live design
4
6
5
5
5
Doris Sung
Doris Sung Principal/Director of Undergraduate Programs at DOSU Studio Architecture/USC School of Architecture
5
5
5
5
5
Julio Kowalenko
Julio Kowalenko Cofounder at Atelier Caracas
5
7
6
5
5.75
Jeff Yrazabal
Jeff Yrazabal President at SRG Partnership
Moving the needle in workplace desi...
6
8
8
5
6.75
Akanksha Deo Sharma
Akanksha Deo Sharma Designer at Ikea
5
5
6
5
5.25
Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
GRAND JURY VOTES
Shortlisted - Restaurant of the Year
8.37
8.58
8.63
7.71
8.32
Nathan Watts
Nathan Watts Creative Director at Interstore
Somewhere i'd like to work!...
6
8
7
8
7.25
Ting Yu
Ting Yu Chief Architect at Wutopia Lab
4
5
4
5
4.5
Frank Lee
Frank Lee Founder and President at Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology
5
5
5
5
5
Simon Goff
Simon Goff Founder and Director at Floor_Story
Really like the work from home feel...
6
7
8
7
7
Janne van Berlo
Janne van Berlo Founder at Atelier van Berlo
5
7
7
6
6.25
Nic Granleese
Nic Granleese CEO and Cofounder at BowerBird
5
5
5
5
5
Lorcan O'Herlihy
Lorcan O'Herlihy Founder, Design Principal at Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]
5
6
5
5
5.25
Tobias Geisler
Tobias Geisler Cofounder at VAVE Studio
4
5
4
5
4.5
Victoria Yakusha
Victoria Yakusha Founder and chief architect at Yakusha Studio & FAINA Collection of live design
4
6
5
5
5
Doris Sung
Doris Sung Principal/Director of Undergraduate Programs at DOSU Studio Architecture/USC School of Architecture
5
5
5
5
5
Julio Kowalenko
Julio Kowalenko Cofounder at Atelier Caracas
5
7
6
5
5.75
Jeff Yrazabal
Jeff Yrazabal President at SRG Partnership
Moving the needle in workplace desi...
6
8
8
5
6.75
Akanksha Deo Sharma
Akanksha Deo Sharma Designer at Ikea
5
5
6
5
5.25
Client
HIBA
Floor area
250 ㎡
Completion
2021
Social Media
Instagram
Stone Works
Ceramic Dishes

Hiba ("Halo" in Moroccan) is an intimate restaurant designed for only 40 diners, with no partition between the kitchen and the dining area. Upon entry, exposure to the restaurant space is done gradually. The visitor enters an arched corridor and walks through it alongside a perforated partition that provides glimpses into the active kitchen. 

After walking down the hall, the entire restaurant space was exposed. The inspiration for the partition comes from traditional partitions in the Arab world ("Mashrabiya") that allow for the partial separation of spaces while maintaining eye contact between them. The partition is made of a rectangular grid, some open and some closed, creating tension between the hidden and the visible. The same element also appears the restaurant's facade outwards and produces an outward reference of the place. There is an implicit eye contact between the inside and the outside, gentle filtering of light and games of light and shadow in the afternoon. The materiality is based on natural materials, similar to the local raw ingredients that make up the dishes served on the place and prepared in front of diners in the open kitchen. 

Natural oak is used for furniture, partitions and ceilings, and frames the cooking area. Concrete, deeply polished in a way that exposes it's aggregates, is used for the floor, and concrete powder is used for painting additional soft elements such as a rounded ceiling and a curved bench. Islands of natural granite stone in a rough cut or deep polishing emerge from the cooking space and are embedded in the space, creating a physical connection between the framed and low kitchen space and the dining hall. The islands used for work later become center tables used for dining and serving. 

The bar is unconventional and functions as an "inverted bar" that is integrated with the perimeter carpentry that surrounds the walls of the space. The fixing of the drinks, like all cooking and hosting operations is carried out in front of the diners as the staff moves in space freely between the tables, stone islands, bar and open kitchen, and a closed back kitchen used for preparations. 

"Hiba" functions as a home-like hospitality space, where the material integration between the refined and polished with the raw and natural, refers to the cooking method in the restaurant and resonates it in the design.