Japan 2010Shato Hanten
In our first meeting, our client showed me a dish in turquoise blue that they actually use in the restaurant. Hon-machi, where the restaurant opened more than 20 years ago, had been long prospering as the town of textile industry. They wanted to shed light on the dishes that had kept serving their guests as a key to connect their history. If you lay out the foliage-patterned dished all over the tables, you feel like enjoying a meal in a forest. To emphasize this sense of “in the wood,” we decided to hang as many as 3500 “branch”-like louvers from the ceiling.
Lighting from the top filters through those “branches” and subtly illuminate tables. The bunch of branches forms a forest-like space and can function as partitions in the restaurant. The shapes of the branches are varied by the line of each section (of the branch) and shape of the surface. Creating from small elements (particles) towards a greater whole is one of KKAA’s architectural vocabulary, which is well reflected also in this project.
