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Kurenai

Yuhi Studio

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Sushi bar as the tea culture and wabi-sabi style. - YUHI STUDIO
The entrance space is a Japanese-style semi-outdoor alley with a small garden covered with 80% black yakisugi (roasted cypress). - YUHI STUDIO
Granite is used as paving stones for the floor material, and the spirit of wabi-sabi appears by using waste materials collected from the countryside in suburban Shanghai. - YUHI STUDIO
Sushi bar as the tea culture and wabi-sabi style. - YUHI STUDIO

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Restaurant
5.92
6.92
6.83
5.67
6.33
Ting Yu
Ting Yu Chief Architect at Wutopia Lab
6
6
6
5
5.75
Simon Goff
Simon Goff Founder and Director at Floor_Story
8
8
9
6
7.75
Nic Granleese
Nic Granleese CEO and Cofounder at BowerBird
6
6
6
5
5.75
Frank Lee
Frank Lee Founder and President at Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology
5
8
7
9
7.25
Lorcan O'Herlihy
Lorcan O'Herlihy Founder, Design Principal at Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]
6
7
7
6
6.5
Tobias Geisler
Tobias Geisler Cofounder at VAVE Studio
5
7
6
5
5.75
Janne van Berlo
Janne van Berlo Founder at Atelier van Berlo
7
8
7
5
6.75
Nathan Watts
Nathan Watts Creative Director at Interstore
6
6
7
6
6.25
Doris Sung
Doris Sung Principal/Director of Undergraduate Programs at DOSU Studio Architecture/USC School of Architecture
6
7
7
6
6.5
Jeff Yrazabal
Jeff Yrazabal President at SRG Partnership
5
6
6
5
5.5
Julio Kowalenko
Julio Kowalenko Cofounder at Atelier Caracas
5
7
6
5
5.75
Akanksha Deo Sharma
Akanksha Deo Sharma Designer at Ikea
6
7
8
5
6.5
Designer
Client
Golden Twisters
Floor area
80 ㎡
Completion
2020

This time we are fortunate to do the interior design of a sushi restaurant in Shanghai, China. When designing, we wondered if it would be possible to design the interior like cooking sushi by sushi chefs. There is a story in each dish created by sushi chefs. Every sushi chef needs to choose the most suitable cooking method according to the characteristics of the ingredients, the place of origins, and the season, and make it beautifully presented on the tableware. Such a series of sushi chef's work is similar to the tea ceremony and wabi-sabi culture in Japan. In this design process, we also carefully selected each material, creat the space with a story, and solve the problems in design by the tea culture and wabi-sabi style. The site is a renovated area along Maoming Road where old buildings are lined up, and since it is directly behind Nanjing West Road subway station, and the traffic is very heavy. The inside of the restaurant is as small as 50 square meters, and the exterior space is a seemingly unusual with a width of about 1.5m and a length of about 20m. Such conditions remind us of Japanese tea room space. We used this exterior space to set up a semi-outdoor roji (a Japanese term used for the garden through which one passes to the tea room for the tea ceremony) to isolate the noise from the outside world, allowing the guests to breathe in as if walking into a tea room. The traffic flow of this design faithfully restores the spirit of the tea ceremony. The main materials of this project are cypress and douglas fir. After we fully understand their characteristics and consider the attributes of the space used, we chose to fire the surface layer of the woods. In the whole project, three types of roasting were prepared, such as rare (20%), medium (50%), and well-done (80%). Cypress is used for the outer space and douglas fir was used for the inner space in consideration of aging. The entrance space is a Japanese-style semi-outdoor roji with a small garden covered with 80% black yakisugi (roasted cypress). The guests lift the noren (the traditional Japanese fabric dividers) and stepped into the narrow corridor, abandoning the hustle and bustle in their hearts, full of the spirit of traditional tea ceremony. Granite is used as paving stones for the floor material, and the spirit of wabi-sabi appears by using waste materials collected from the countryside in suburban Shanghai. We chose to make the washbasin (which called "Tsukubai" in Japanese) with glass bricks. By placing the short sides of the glass bricks on the front, sunlight can be refracted into the inner space, and light and shadow are used to enrich the space. For the mud wall, we used Spanish clay which is commonly used in French architecture. Since the site is located in the area which was shanghai international settlement, and its’ architectural style is deeply influenced by France. In order to refer to such history and take root in the culture, we dared to select Spanish clay even in Shanghai. The benches on the inside of the roji also use roasted cypress, which is made of a whole cypress pile with a section of 45x45cm. The door leading to the interior is made of 20% light-roasted douglas fir, and the handle and door frame are made of corten steel plate. In this way, the material used in this project eliminates artificial coloring to the utmost limit, and is composed entirely of the naturally appearing colors of the materials themselves. When you open the entrance door and enter the room, you will find a ceiling with a red clay wall finish. The red ceiling is chamfered to form a shape from high to low gradually. Due to the low entrance opening, everyone has to bow and enter. We will let visitors experience the spirit of tea ceremony without distinction. After passing through the gradually lower corridor, the bright red bar is very eye-catching. The lacquer red used in the red bar counter is also known as the earliest red in Japan. In order to reduce the impact of scratches and deterioration over years, we added a protective coating that is often used on the surface of the car body on the countertop. Black washi paper was pasted on the ceiling, and the edge was made as thin as possible so that the piece of washi paper could be seen floating in the air. The black washi is hand-processed to form a wrinkled effect, and the texture is vivid and delicate. The raw material is Inshu washi produced in Tottori, Japan. In order to reflect the cooking process and figure of the sushi chef, we use 80% deep-roasted douglas fir as the back wall behind the bar. The outside corners of the clay wall on the inner side of the bar are wrapped in black bamboo to ensure safety while showing functional beauty. The floor material is blackened concrete, which is expressed like a rough floor. When choosing the material of the private room door, considering the matching degree with the clay wall, we chose 20% light-roasted douglas fir. After opening the door of the private room, you can see the courtyard from the front opening. The plants planted in the courtyard are reflected on the red lacquered countertops, making the whole space become gorgeous. As for the ceiling, Inshu washi was used as well as the counter. The walls are made of clay made in Spain, and the floors are made of douglas fir. The spirit of tea ceremony and wabi-sabi pervade the entire space, and the sushi chef’s commitment to each thing are all synchronized in the interior design. We are able to create a high-quality and rich space even though it is a compact restaurant.