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      Oku restaurant in Mexico City features “floating tables” made of wood and steel

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      Curved booths are suspended over a dining room at a Japanese restaurant in Mexico City designed by local firms Michan Architecture and Escala Arquitectos.

      The sushi eatery is located in the upscale neighbourhood of Jardines del Pedregal, across from a famed church known as Parroquia de la Santa Cruz del Pedregal.
      Oku is a sushi restaurant in Mexico CityIt is the second Oku restaurant designed by Michan Architecture. The other – which features a cave-like ceiling made of huge concrete lights – is found in the district of Lomas de Chapultepec.
      For the Pedregal location, the architects worked with another local firm, Escala Arquitectos. The team aimed to elongate the space’s proportions and take advantage of its height.
      The restaurant is Michan Architecture’s second of its kindRectangular in plan, the eatery has two levels. The lower level encompasses a sushi bar, indoor and outdoor seating, and a back-of-house zone.

      Additional seating is found upstairs, where a series of “floating tables” are arrayed along a corridor.
      “Floating tables” are arrayed along a corridor”The mezzanine level features individual tables hung from the existing structure, giving guests a unique dining experience,” the studio said.
      Two of the tables hover above the sushi bar, and two extend over the outdoor terrace. Each has wooden walls that enclose a single booth.
      Curved stairs connect Oku’s two levelsA similar enclosure was used for the stairs connecting the restaurant’s two levels.
      The dining pods are supported by light steel members that are welded into the building’s existing steel structure.

      Samurai armour and Kanji characters inform Mexico City’s Tori Tori restaurant by Esrawe Studio

      Above the mezzanine is a drop ceiling with curved cutouts that expose the steel framing and add height to the space.
      Moreover, the openings provide a “sensation of cutting and pasting the ceiling onto the tables”, the architects said.
      Cylindrical black lighting fixtures hang from the ceilingHung from the ceiling are cylindrical, black lighting fixtures, which merge electrical cables with structural elements.
      Throughout the restaurant, the team used neutral colours and clad surfaces in pine, pigmented stucco and panels made of glass-fibre-reinforced concrete (GFRC).
      The team used neutral colours and clad surfaces in pinewood throughout OkuThe effect is a “light and open atmosphere that plays with polished and raw finishes”, the team said.
      Other Japanese eateries in Mexico include Mexico City’s Tori Tori by Esrawe Studio, which features elements inspired by Samurai armour, and a restaurant by TAX Architects in the coastal town of Puerto Escondido that is topped with a thatched roof.
      The photography is by Alexandra Bové.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Michan Architecture and Escala ArquitectosProject team: Narciso Martinez, Benjamin Espindola, Emilio Gamus, Isaac MichanStructural engineer: Arturo Rosales + MdOMechanical, electrical, plumbing: RAGER, Rafael Barra

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      Transatlántico exhibition “forms a bridge” between Latin American and European design

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      Brutalist furniture by Rick Owens, a shaggy pink sofa and ethereal lighting feature in Transatlántico, an exhibition of Latin American and European sculptural design presented by Galerie Philia in Mexico City.

      Transatlántico brings together furniture and ornaments by emerging Latin American designers from Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
      Top: a wall hanging by Mexican studio Caralarga. Above: Pietro Franceschini presents his Waldo sofa, among other seatingTheir pieces are presented alongside work by leading European designers such as Pietro Franceschini and Pierre De Valck, some of whom are showing in Mexico for the first time.
      “The aim was to create an authentic, specialised event around the Latin American design scene and its very distinct identity, but also include new collections by European designers,” Transatlántico co-curator Alban Roger told Dezeen.
      “We wanted to establish a dialogue between the two continents, with both their own distinctive styles but also strong inter-influences.”

      Carob wood furniture by Cristián Mohaded features in the exhibitionIn line with this theme, a shaggy pink “yeti” sofa by St Petersburg-based artist Vladimir Naumov for Missana Lab is included alongside delicate carob wood furniture by Argentinian designer Cristián Mohaded, who explores carpentry using native materials from his birth country.
      An ethereal light named Ghost Pendant was crafted by Mexican designers Héctor Esrawe and Emiliano Godoy and Los-Angeles born designer Brian Thoreen, using handblown glass, silicon tubing and LED lights.
      Vladimir Naumov offers a shaggy pink sofaOther pieces include dark-coloured brutalist furniture by Paris-based American fashion designer Rick Owens that is made from a mixture of bronze and camel skin, as well as Mexico City-based Platalea Studio’s playful Happiness Bench formed from three curvy slabs of pink and brown terrazzo.
      “We reached out to talents we believe in and who fell within our criteria of sculptural design,” explained co-curator Jorge Brown, with regard to how Galeria Philia selected the participating designers.
      “Our main criteria was the originality of their design exploration but also their creative research on various materials and sculptural techniques.”

      Mario García Torres curates design exhibition in Mexico City house

      According to Galerie Philia, sustainability was also a factor in Transátlantico’s curatorial ethos.
      This is reflected in pieces such as a series of delicately woven wall hangings by Mexican artisanal studio Caralarga, which are crafted using raw cotton yarn and discarded fabric waste.
      Ghost Pendant is a light by Héctor Esrawe and Emiliano Godoy and Brian ThoreenColombian designer Alejandra Aristizábal also presents textile wall hangings that resemble jumbo rolls of sewing thread, although hers are made from fique – a natural fibre from the Andean region that has historically been used to create ropes and hammocks.
      “Transatlántico is founded on the idea of forming a transatlantic bridge between the contrasting cultural and artistic worlds of Europe and Latin America, identifying how we establish a creative discourse across the social boundaries associated with the geography that divides us,” said Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali.
      Rick Owens presents a selection of brutalist bronze furnitureWith galleries in Geneva, New York City and Singapore, Galerie Philia is an international contemporary design and art gallery that also presents group exhibitions at temporary spaces around the world.
      Previous Galerie Philia exhibitions include a furniture show in Manhattan’s Walker Tower and an exhibition presenting emerging Italian designers’ responses to Rick Owens’ work in Milan.
      Happiness Bench is playful terrazzo seating by Platalea StudioThe photography is courtesy of Galerie Philia.
      Transátlantico is on show at House of Kirschner’s gallery space, Avenida Ejército Nacional 676, in Mexico City from 8 to 12 February 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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