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      Studio KO places female chefs “at the epicentre” of Moroccan restaurant Sahbi Sahbi

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      French architecture practice Studio KO has designed the restaurant interiors of Sahbi Sahbi using textures, tones and materials that celebrate Moroccan cuisine and female culinary practices.

      Sahbi Sahbi, which translates to soulmates in Darija – a form of Arabic spoken in Morocco, is located in the Guéliz neighbourhood of Marrakech.
      Top: An open kitchen is at the heart of Sahbi Sahbi. Above: the restaurant is in Marrakech”Sahbi Sahbi is a reinvented tribute to Moroccan craftsmanship,” Studio KO told Dezeen.
      “It is a symbiosis of modernity and tradition, of Japan wood tradition and details and Moroccan motifs and materials.”
      Studio KO wanted the restaurant to celebrate the female chefs who work thereThe eatery serves a menu of traditional Morrocan dishes made using recipes created by Dadas – female cooks in Morocco who orally handed down their trade through generations.

      Sahbi Sahibi’s focus on Dada cuisine influenced Studio KO to create an interior that places the female chefs at the centre of the space.
      Warm wood was used for the ceiling, walls and table and chairs”In Morocco, the kitchen is normally a secretive place, the hidden domain of the Dadas, women who hand down recipes from one generation to the next,” Studio KO said.
      “It is with precisely this intention, to share and transmit knowledge – an intention evident even in the layout of the restaurant – that guests are welcomed at Sahbi Sahbi,” added the brand.
      Rust-coloured paint and tableware is dotted throughoutIn the centre of the restaurant, the kitchen was intentionally left open so that diners can watch the chefs at work and get an insight into the culinary process.
      Horseshoe-shaped tables and seating wrap around an open stove integrated into a kitchen island counter where chefs prepare meals.
      “In conceiving this warm, convivial space, the designers inverted the archetype of Moroccan cuisine – its secretiveness – and instead placed the cooking at the epicentre of the restaurant’s activity,” said Studio KO.

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      Earthy colours and natural materials were used to complement the relaxed and friendly aesthetic of the restaurant.
      Wood was used to add warmth throughout. It covers the walls and ceiling and also forms the woven chairs and dining tables. These are illuminated with spherical pendant lights while brown leather upholsters the booth seating around the edge of the space.
      A traditional oven is located at the side of the spaceIn one corner, there is a large traditional oven where chefs can burn logs to bake bread or roast meat.
      Finer details include rust-coloured ceramic urns, clay pots and pans and orange-brown paint in an alcove above a sink.
      “The beauty is subtle: details, textures, the play of light and surfaces, natural tones and motifs that tell a story of traditional materials and knowledge, freely reinterpreted,” Studio KO explained.
      the interiors were designed as a tribute to Moroccan craftsmanshipStudio KO has previously worked on projects in Marrakech. In 2017 the studio revealed the Musée Yves Saint Laurent, a 4,000-square-metre museum building showcasing the work of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
      Other notable buildings in the Moroccan capital city include Fobe House, a white house designed by Paris-based architecture studio Guilhem Eustache.
      The photography is by Pascal Montary.

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      Keiji Ashizawa adds Blue Bottle Coffee shop to Kobe department store

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      Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has created the interior of the Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe’s Hankyu department store, taking advantage of its display windows to connect the cafe with the street outside.

      The 173-square-metre cafe, which shares the department store’s ground floor with a number of apparel brands, has five large display windows.
      To open the coffee shop up towards the street, designer Keiji Ashizawa turned one of the windows into a take-out counter.
      One display window was turned into a take-out counterThe remaining window niches were filled with blue built-in seating, creating a splash of colour among the wooden furniture.
      Inside the cafe, square-shaped and rectangular furniture nods to the graphic look of the facade and is contrasted by round tables and large circular ceiling lights.

      “The furniture is mainly made of domestic wood in collaboration with the Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku, who specializes in working with oak wood,” Ashizawa told Dezeen.
      Wooden furniture and terrazzo tabletops were used for the interiorThe studio also mixed in terrazzo amongst the wooden furniture to give the cafe a welcoming feel.
      “By placing a large terrazzo tabletop with fine textures created by mixing grounded glass into the material, it adds to the soft and welcoming atmosphere that identifies Blue Bottle Coffee and their hospitality,” Ashizawa said.

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      “It is also used for the low coffee table surrounded by the sofas, creating a sense of harmony and elegance throughout the space of the cafe,” he added.
      While the studio was unable to change the material of the existing rough concrete floor, the department store allowed it to create a discrete demarcation by polishing the floor underneath the central tables.
      Circular pendant lights were made from raw aluminiumLarge disc-shaped pendant lights add a sense of drama to the coffee shop’s pared-back design.
      “With the idea of creating a high ceiling within the space, the pendant lights were made from raw aluminum to complement the industrial structures,” Ashizawa said.
      “Six pendant lights are placed in the central space at equal distances in three zones, creating a sense of rhythm and spatial balance.”
      The concrete floor was polished in part of the cafeThe wooden furniture inside the Blue Bottle Coffe Hankyu cafe has mainly been kept in its natural colour, but Ashizawa added bright colour to some of the wood.
      “In the space with concrete structures, the yellow color was added to balance the combination of wood and concrete, and the blue color was placed as a contrast,” he said.
      “We also designed the space to fit in with the apparel brands that share the ground floor.”
      Shelves were painted a bright yellowAshizawa has previously created a number of cafes for the Blue Bottle Coffee company, including a Shanghai store decorated with traditional Chinese roof tiles and a Tokyo outpost with a volcanic-ash counter.
      The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Keiji Ashizawa DesignProject architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Tomohiko Fujishita, Masaru KiotyaConstruction: TankDesign supervision: Miyachi Office/Kunihiko MiyachiLighting design: Aurora/Yoshiki IchikawaFurniture: Karimoku Case Study/Ichinomaki Laboratory by KarimokuMetal works: Super Robot

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      Renesa completes “grotto-like” interior for Tin Tin restaurant

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      Indian architecture and interiors studio Renesa has completed a restaurant in Chandigarh with curving walls, ceilings and countertops blanketed in mosaic tiles.

      Tin Tin is a pan-Asian dining venue with an experimental menu, which New Delhi-based Renesa was asked to reflect in its design for the restaurant’s interior.
      The Tin Tin restaurant features curved walls and countertopsThe studio aimed to create a rich and engaging experience for guests, unfolding gradually as they move around the space.
      This is achieved by breaking up Tin Tin’s floor plan with curved walls and built-in furnishings that combine to from various different seating nooks and zones.
      A gridded mosaic covers surfaces across the restaurant”Sweeping arches, contoured ceilings and a juxtaposition amidst solid and voided structures dot the layout,” Renesa said.

      “These conjure focal nodes and morphing vistas as one lets the eye take in the space, only to reveal that no two sights within the interior volume can be identical.”
      Renesa designed the restaurant interior to reflect Tin Tin’s experimental menuThe fluidity of the restaurant’s internal surfaces is accentuated by the mosaic tiles that are arranged into a rough grid pattern across its walls, floors and openings.
      The surfaces were cast on site using terrazzo combined with slices of Indian stone in shades of jade, umber brown, veined white and greige.
      Renesa says Tin Tin’s “minimalist grotto-like feel” is a result of this homogenous materiality, which took a team of stonemasons and plasterers more than six months to complete.

      Renesa uses contrasting terracotta and terrazzo materials to create all-day cafe in New Delhi

      The built-in elements are complemented by a range of custom-made furniture featuring similar curvilinear silhouettes and a matching colour palette.
      The restaurant’s entrance flows into an open space containing a range of freestanding high tables and communal seating areas, offering an array of dining experiences.
      Custom-made furniture separates different dining zonesTin Tin also provides varying degrees of privacy, allowing it to be transformed from a fine dining space during the day to a lively lounge in the evening.
      A large terrace featuring the same decor as the internal dining space provides additional seating in the daytime, while at night the tabletops and bar areas are illuminated by spotlights from above to create an intimate atmosphere.
      The curved elements contrast with their gridded surface patternRenesa was founded in 2006 and is led by architect Sanjay Arora and his son Sanchit.
      Previous projects from the studio include an all-day cafe in New Delhi that juxtaposes terracotta and terrazzo surfaces, and a brick manufacturer’s showroom in the same city that is clad entirely in earthy-hued masonry.
      The photography is by Niveditaa Gupta.

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      Upstairs lounge with “DIY” design approach opens at Public Records

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      Public Records co-founders Shane Davis and Francis Harris have added a bar and lounge on an upper floor of their multi-purpose creative venue in Brooklyn.

      Upstairs is the latest addition to Public Records, which was opened in 2019 by musician Harris and creative consultant Davis, who led the design of both the original spaces and the new lounge.
      The Upstairs lounge at Public Records is anchored by a dark marble bar and glossy black floorThe extension joins a variety of programmed areas in the industrial brick building, including a cafe and record store, a plant-based bar and restaurant, an outdoor garden and a Sound Room for live performances.
      For Upstairs, Davis collaborated with DSLV Studio on the interiors, Arup for the acoustics, and a cast of makers to renovate the upper-level space – once occupied by Retrofret Vintage Guitars.
      A “DIY approach” was taken to the design of the space, which involved multiple collaborators”We felt that people would value a space that inspires more intimate connection than our other spaces,” said David. “This framework then provides opportunities to explore our ideas and showcase those of our collaborators on various scales, whether it be a sound system, a chair, an event series, or a cocktail.”

      The room is anchored by a dark, patterned marble bar, which together with the glossy black floor contrasts the mostly white walls and furniture.
      Particular attention was paid to the sound quality in the space, which includes large subwoofer speakers by OJASParticular attention was paid to the sound quality in the space, where walls are furred out and undulated to bounce music around the room from large subwoofer speakers.
      These are housed in cabinets by Devon Turnbull of OJAS and positioned against the back wall, with either side of the cabinets containing a diverse array of equipment including a reel-to-reel tape player.
      Custom furniture pieces include the PR Lounge Chair, designed with local fabricator Joe CauvelPatrons will be able to choose from a curated selection of records and CDs available to play during gatherings, events and parties.
      “Intentional listening on an audio system that showcases the practices of production in the music space allows for a deeper understanding and appreciation of the cultural significance of musicians and producers who are an integral part of how we shape our perception of the world,” said Harris.

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      Wrapping the room are cream leather banquettes, accompanied by circular glass tables, and black ceramic and foam stools commissioned from Zurich-based artist Cristian Anderson that are reminiscent of used paint buckets.
      Also scattered through the space is the custom PR Lounge Chair, designed with local fabricator Joe Cauvel and constructed of plywood and steel with exposed joinery.
      Exposed ductwork and services found throughout the old industrial building are also present in UpstairsExposed ductwork and services found throughout the building are also present in Upstairs, which continues the same “DIY approach” taken to all of Public Records’ spaces.
      Brooklyn has no end of venues that act as community hubs, workspaces and nightlife spots geared towards its thriving creative population.
      Black ceramic and foam stools by artist Cristian Anderson are reminiscent of used paint bucketsAmong others are The Mercury Store performing arts centre in Dumbo and the 77 Washington artist studios in the Navy Yard.
      Elsewhere in New York City, creative co-working space Neuehouse recently updated its hospitality areas.
      The photography is by Ill Gander.

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      VSHD Design creates “intriguing and mysterious” interior for sushi restaurant Origami

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      Emirati studio VSHD Design has completed a dark and dramatic interior for a restaurant in The Dubai Mall, featuring a pared-back palette of natural materials chosen to reflect Japanese minimalism.

      Origami is a sushi restaurant, whose first outpost opened in Dubai’s Jumeriah neighbourhood in 2014.
      VSHD Design has designed the Origami restaurant in The Dubai MallFor its second branch, the owners asked VSHD Design to create a space that provides a unique experience within the cookie-cutter environment of a shopping mall.
      The studio, led by interior architect Rania Hamed, used materials such as textured grey plaster, matte-black tiles and low lighting to create an atmosphere that evokes the underground sushi bars found throughout Japan.
      Glass bricks form a low bar in the waiting area”Origami’s interior makeover features simple forms in natural materials, and organic shapes reflecting the simplicity and minimalism of traditional Japanese culture,” VSHD Design explained.

      The interior features monolithic columns and walls informed by the architecture of temples, along with seating covered with draped fabric and textured glass partitions that contribute to the feeling of “intrigue and mystery”, the studio said.
      Six-metre-thick columns frame the restaurant’s entranceThe restaurant is entered through the gaps between a number of six-metre-thick columns, designed to enhance the sense of separation between the mall and the main dining room.
      A small retail space on one side of the entrance hosts a concession selling chocolates while on the other side, a low bar area with wooden stools and a glass-block counter provides a waiting area for diners.

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      “The solid shop front facade made of rammed-earth clay and glass bricks evokes a feeling of intrigue meant to draw people inside,” said VSHD Design.
      The narrow entrance also limits the amount of natural light entering the dining room, which helps to maintain the dark and intimate feel.
      The main dining room is dimly litThe restaurant is arranged over two split levels that offer different seating arrangements, with the main area featuring built-in bench seating arranged around its perimeter.
      Three steps lead up to a space housing the sushi bar, which is illuminated by an overhead light box and allows diners to watch the chefs at work.
      A sushi counter at the back allows diners to watch the chefs at workBlack tiles covering the walls, floors and counter create a dark and minimalist ambience throughout the interior.
      The furnishings, including wooden chairs and benches upholstered with draped white fabric, provide a more relaxed and tactile element.
      “Overall, it is the lines, the materials and the colours incorporated within the design that uphold a Japanese sensibility and spirit, while still appealing to a modern sense of luxury,” the studio said.
      Black tiles cover the walls and floorsRania Hamed founded VSHD Design in 2007 and has since worked on residential and commercial projects in countries including Jordan, Egypt and the United Kingdom.
      The studio’s projects in Dubai include a gym that references brutalist architecture and underground fight clubs, as well as a coffee shop with a curved ceiling and boulder-like counters.
      The photography is by Oculis Project.

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      Renovated Mayfair pub The Audley is filled to the brim with art

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      Artworks by Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud and more can be seen throughout The Audley pub and its restaurant in London’s Mayfair, designed by architecture studio Laplace.

      The venue occupies a listed five-storey building dating back to 1888, which formerly functioned as a pub with rooms for staff upstairs.
      Laplace designed The Audley pub (above) and its restaurant (top image) in LondonNow, the ground-floor public house has been restored while the upper levels were converted into the Mount St Restaurant, complete with four private dining rooms.
      The renovation was commissioned by Artfarm – the hospitality company of Hauser & Wirth founders Iwan and Manuela Wirth – with the aim of upgrading the pub’s interior while preserving its original features.
      British artist Phyllida Barlow has created a colourful collage on the pub’s ceiling”The word Audley is English Anglo-Saxon for ‘old friend’ and the pub has been an old friend to people who live and work in Mayfair ever since it opened in Edwardian times,” said Artfarm’s CEO Ewan Venters. “We wanted it to remain just that.”

      “This area is so rich in culture and history, and where better for those stories to continue than at the local pub?”
      Mount St Restaurant sits above the pub on the building’s first floorFrench studio Laplace was selected to lead the pub’s redesign, having already worked on a number of Hauser & Wirth’s international art galleries including its outposts in Somerset and on the Spanish island of Menorca.
      In the ground-floor pub, the studio freshened up the woodwork and brought in a team of specialists who, over the course of eight weeks, hand-polished almost every surface of the interior.
      Restoration work was also carried out on The Audley’s 19th-century clock and fireplace, and a new chestnut-brown leather banquette was installed.
      Artworks cover every wall of the restaurantThe ceiling is now covered in a newly commissioned collage by British artist Phyllida Barlow. It comprises brightly coloured sheets of paper that were pasted into an abstract pattern, at points forming arch shapes that mimic the curvature of the pub’s windows.
      More artworks by the likes of Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed and Canadian artist Rodney Graham were mounted on the walls.
      The salt and pepper shakers take cues from artist Paul McCarthy’s Tree sculptureThe Audley sells traditional pub snacks while in the upstairs Mount St Restaurant, a full menu of classic London dishes is on offer.
      This first-floor space is jam-packed with art pieces including a self-portrait by Lucian Freud, a lobster print by Andy Warhol and an abstract landscape by painter Frank Auerbach that depicts London’s Primrose Hill.

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      The floor is taken over by a bold mosaic created by American artist Rashid Johnson and made up of different types of marble. Another American artist, Matthew Day Jackson, is responsible for the crimson-coloured dining chairs with wriggly frames.
      Art also inspired the restaurant’s finer details; the salt and pepper shakers are modelled after Paul McCarthy’s playful sculpture Tree while the lamps that centre each of the leather-topped tables are based on Swiss artist Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s work Powder Box.
      “We have created coherent spaces in which art and design flow naturally, avoiding the pitfalls of obsolete artistic or aesthetic statements,” explained Laplace.
      The Swiss Room is one of four private dining rooms on siteThe project also saw the studio create four private dining spaces on-site, which are available for hire.
      On the building’s second level is The Swiss Room, designed to celebrate the nationality of Iwan and Manuela Wirth, who founded Hauser & Wirth together with Ursula Hauser in Zurich in 1992.
      Here, the parquet oak floor was stained brown, red and teal-blue to emulate a watercolour by Taeuber-Arp.
      Palazzos inspired the rich look of The Italian RoomNearby is the Italian Room & Bar, which draws on the aesthetic of grand palazzos. Its walls are painted a rich mustard-yellow hue, while deep-green Verde Alpi marble from Italy was used to craft the countertop of the bar and the flooring.
      The building’s third level accommodates The Scottish Room with a nine-metre-long oak table at its centre surrounded by hand-carved chairs, each inlaid with a custom tartan designed by weaver Araminta Campbell.
      Directly above hangs a dramatic antler chandelier.
      An antler chandelier is the focal point of The Scottish Room. Photo by Sim Canetty-ClarkeFinally on the fourth level is The Games Room, which Laplace styled to have the feel of a “clandestine enclave”.
      It features tasselled ceiling lamps, a blood-red tufted sofa and a one-off rug made by Laplace in collaboration with the former assistant of French-American artist Louise Bourgeois.
      At this level, guests can also see the inside of the building’s turret, which features an erotic fresco by British artist Anj Smith.
      Plush furnishings fill The Games Room. Photo by Sim Canetty-ClarkeLondon’s affluent Mayfair neighbourhood is a hotspot for bars and restaurants.
      Among them is the recently-opened Bacchanalia, which features giant mythology-inspired sculptures by Damien Hirst, and The Red Room bar inside The Connaught Hotel, which is designed to feel like an art collector’s home.
      The photography is by Simon Brown unless stated otherwise. 

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      Dishoom Canary Wharf recalls 1970s Irani cafes near Bombay Stock Exchange

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      Prolific restaurant Dishoom has opened its first new London venue in five years, featuring an interior designed around a “financial fraudster from the 1970s”.

      As with previous venues, restaurant co-founders Shamil and Kavi Thakrar teamed up with architecture studio Macaulay Sinclair on the design of Dishoom Canary Wharf.
      Dishoom Canary Wharf is the restaurant’s sixth venue in LondonReferencing its setting near many of London’s banking headquarters, the design imagines an Irani cafe near the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1970s India.
      “When we create a Dishoom, we always start with a story,” explained Shamil Thakrar.
      The entrance leads into a double-height bar”We imagined the fictional owner of the restaurant to be a financial fraudster from the 1970s who owns a cafe on Dalal Street, close to the Bombay Stock Exchange,” he told Dezeen.

      “This story gave us an opportunity to experiment with the aesthetic and feeling of the 1970s in Bombay, which, as you can imagine, has a rich history of financial intrigue.”
      The backdrop to this space is a high-gloss teal wallKey to the design is the retro furnishings that feature throughout the 750-square-metre restaurant.
      Vintage chairs, lighting fixtures and ornaments were sourced from antique dealers in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), carefully restored and shipped back to the UK.
      “The procurement process for each Dishoom starts with the sourcing trip,” said Ian Roome, associate director at Macaulay Sinclair.
      A vintage clock provides a focal point within the bespoke joinery of the barOne of the most important finds was a vintage diamond-shaped clock, which is set into bespoke joinery as the focal point of a grand bar that greets guests when they first arrive.
      According to Roome, this element draws inspiration from the lobby clock in Mumbai’s West End Hotel, which is located in the same neighbourhood as the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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      “The position of the 10-metre bar servery is, in our opinion, the key component in the restaurant,” he told Dezeen.
      “It creates an impressive focal point in the Permit Room bar, engaging with guests from all angles and viewpoints.”
      Restored vintage furniture features throughout the dining spacesThis double-height arrival space is naturally divided into zones by different furniture types that include low-slung lounge seats, banquette booths and cushioned leather bar stools.
      Rotating ceiling fans and rattan panelling – both Dishoom staples – also feature here, while the backdrop is a glossy teal wall that takes its cues from the Bombay Gymkhana.
      “We researched 1970s Bombay extensively,” said Roome, before reeling off a list of places in Mumbai’s Fort area that were visited as part of the design process.
      “They guide every single detail of the design aesthetic and tone,” he said.
      Retro wallpaper infills timber wall panellingThe dining spaces are more intimate in scale, set beneath a mezzanine-level kitchen.
      These spaces are filled with texture, thanks to parquet and patterned-tile floors, panelled walls infilled with retro wallpaper, and a mix of wood and marble tabletops.
      Seating upholstery comes in patterned fabric and leather in shades of green, yellow, brown and red. A family room sits off to one side, with colours that reference the stairwell of the Parsi Lying-In Hospital.
      The family room features green leather seating upholsteryThe Dishoom restaurants, which first launched in 2010, are based on the Irani cafes that were once widespread in Bombay but are now increasingly rare.
      There are now six Dishooms in London, including one in a former transit shed near King’s Cross station, plus outposts in Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester.
      Shamil Thakrar explained the concept in a 2010 interview with Dezeen founder Marcus Fairs.
      Old photographs hang on the wallsWith Dishoom Canary Wharf, Thakrar hopes to have created a stronger sense of 1970s glamour than in any of the restaurants.
      “It feels like one of the richest designs we’ve created,” he said. “The room furthest back feels to me like the Air India first class lounge circa 1973, although I’m too young to remember this of course.”
      “I also love the artwork, which works again to reinforce the character and the time setting of the protagonist in our story.”

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      Aurelien Chen retains references to China's “Red Era” in renovated cultural centre

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      Architect Aurelien Chen has transformed a former miners’ canteen in Handan, China, into a multipurpose cultural centre featuring interventions that respond to the building’s communist heritage.

      The canteen was built in the 1970s to serve workers at the Jinxing coal mine in China’s Hebei Province.
      It is surrounded by office buildings dating back to 1912 that were built by German architects and feature a distinctly Western aesthetic.
      The canteen was built to serve coal mine workersThe local government engaged China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to oversee the sustainable renovation of the site, with Beijing-based Chen asked to head up the design team.
      The site is designated as a tourist destination with a focus on representing China’s evolution during the “Red Era”, beginning with the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921 and culminating in the Cultural Revolution that took place from 1966-1976.

      Following a historical survey of the site, it was determined that the early 20th-century buildings should be restored to their original condition.
      It was renovated and refurbished by CSCEC and Aurelien ChenChen told Dezeen that he felt the canteen building should also be preserved as it complements the masterplan and style of the earlier structures.
      He explained that the brief for the refurbishment was to emphasise and recreate architectural elements that had been lost over time or were in need of significant restoration.
      The interior was developed around existing historical features”Instead of recreating a fake Red Era atmosphere, I preferred to keep the few historical traces that already existed within the building,” said Chen.
      “I developed the design and the space around them, attempting to subtly evoke the colours, materials and furniture of that time.”
      Vaults in the building were preservedOne of the most significant interventions is a flower-shaped, multipurpose furniture element located at the centre of the main hall.
      The outline of this space, which can be used as an information desk, exhibition space, stage or relaxation area, evokes a typical Red Era pattern that was painted on the original ceiling.

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      Other furniture in the versatile central hall includes wave-shaped benches and circular reading booths that are intended to provide a sense of fluidity and flexibility of use.
      The circular reading spaces are inspired by the hall’s original ceiling lights and incorporate integrated bookshelves to minimise their visual impact on the space.
      A flower-shaped multipurpose furniture piece sits in the middleExisting dilapidated internal walls were retained and became key features within the renovated spaces. A linear partition wall that was once the canteen’s serving counter was transformed into a reading desk with lamps and high stools.
      The bar area is located in a corner of the space and flanked by a concrete wall displaying Communist slogans painted in Chinese characters.
      The canteen serving counter is now a reading deskChen wanted to incorporate arches into the design to echo details found on a neighbouring historic building. This was achieved by adding a row of booths with arched canopies to the restaurant area.
      The booths also reference arched brick openings uncovered during the renovation process, as well as stone vaults discovered in the basement.
      A glass floor connects the vaults with the public areas aboveThe vaults were preserved in their original state, with minimal interventions helping to transform them into reading corners and exhibition areas. A glass floor maintains a visual connection between these spaces and the public areas above.
      Stairs leading to the basement were moved into an arch-shaped, metal-clad volume added to the facade. The external window openings were reshaped into arches that reference details found on the historic buildings nearby.
      Booths were given miniature arches in a nod to surrounding buildingsChen explained that, although the number of significant heritage details within the building were limited, each one was carefully restored and used as the basis for additions that enhance the link to the past.
      “I would say that new interventions tend to blend with the existing conditions, sometimes in a very immaterial way,” the architect added. “Their shape and space derive directly from original elements, revealing them; the materials, however, are more in contrast.”
      The interior also features undulating seatingOther recent cultural and leisure projects in China include a visitor centre with spiralling tiled roofs and the country’s biggest library, which was designed by Danish studio Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects.

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