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    Muted material palette defines monochrome Chinese restaurant by StudioAC

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    Canadian firm StudioAC combined micro cement, stainless steel and vinyl to form the interiors of a Chinese restaurant in Ontario designed to “respond to the context of the strip mall” in which it is located.

    Called Bao, the restaurant is located in the city of Markham, Ontario. It is positioned between a convenience store and a pharmacy along a strip of suburban shops.
    Bao is positioned along a strip of suburban shopsStudioAC’s aim was to create an interior that would provide an efficient dining experience as well as easy takeaway and delivery access, while also promoting Bao’s distinctive visual style.
    To do so, the studio arranged the interior around two angled tangent lines drawn from large street-facing windows to an open kitchen positioned at the back of the restaurant.
    StudioAC designed the eatery with monochrome interiors”These lines skew the visual perspective into the store to dramatise food preparation,” StudioAC told Dezeen.

    While Bao’s interior design stands out from the traditional shops that flank it, the restaurant’s facade was kept deliberately simple to blend into its suburban environment.
    Tables and seating were created in microcement”On the one hand, the project embraces the banal nature of the strip mall as we haven’t really done anything to the exterior,” explained the designers.
    “But on the other hand, the project’s interior responds to the context of the strip mall by introducing a unique visual terminus along an otherwise mundane facade made up of repetitive box stores.”

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    StudioAC chose to use a minimal palette of three materials throughout the monochrome interior design to let the restaurant’s statement layout speak for itself.
    Rectilinear grey microcement tables, benches and stools are positioned on each side of the restaurant, while the open kitchen was finished in stainless steel that was chosen for its striking reflective design as well as its durability.
    Two tangent lines were drawn from the windows to the open kitchenAbove the seating, the team built chunky bulkheads that are positioned parallel to one another. Below these hang contrastingly delicate banners made from vinyl vertical blinds, which were designed in a nod to traditional Chinese lanterns.
    Chosen as a material partly for their cost-effectiveness, the backlit blinds also aim to introduce “moments of softness and intimacy” to the otherwise harsh and muted interiors.
    “We considered all of the furniture as part of the architecture,” explained the designers, who created the custom tables and seating for the project.
    Vinyl backlit “banners” create playful lightingStudioAC has completed numerous other interior designs that are led by a minimalist approach. These include a Toronto house with a pair of timber-clad bedrooms and a luxury cannabis dispensery with faceted walls.
    The photography is by Jeremie Warshafsky Photography.

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      Long wooden cabinet runs through slender Borden house by StudioAC

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      Pale woodwork wrapping white-painted walls forms storage to make more space in this 14-foot-wide house in Toronto, which has been overhauled by local firm StudioAC.The Borden project is the renovation of a Victorian-era, three-storey residence in Annex, a neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto.

      Like many other properties in the area the house has a “very slender” width measuring 14 foot (4.2 metres) wide, which is approximately half the length of a London bus.

      Focused on the the ground-floor living area and second floor bedroom, StudioAC’s overhaul aimed to emphasise the tall ceilings of the house and give the impression of more space inside.
      It painted the walls and ceilings white and added short wood cabinets, which it describes as “contemporary wainscotting”, to highlight the height of the walls.

      “With soaring ceiling heights, we wanted to articulate the interior in a way that felt intimate while maintaining an open slender floor plan,” StudioAC explained.
      “We utilised a language of wrapping the flooring material up to counter-height to create a nestled feeling throughout the ground floor and the level three bedroom suite.”

      In turn, the cabinetry is also used to conceal storage and functions, making more space in the floor. One of the cabinets stretches the floor length of the ground floor to form the base of a built-in fireplace and kitchen counter. Both the chimney and the oven are built out in white volumes on top.
      The decor of the space, including wood flooring and furniture, and mirrored walls, complements the simple aesthetic. A white couch is placed at the front beneath a large window covered with translucent, white curtains.

      Matching wooden cabinetry continues in the top floor main bedroom, extending around the bed and forming short storage cabinets, and closets.

      StudioAC designs Toronto house “disguised as a gallery”

      “The third floor bedroom suite also has incredible ceiling height,” said the studio. “So the language of the contemporary wainscotting is taken up to the bedroom to carry the thesis from private to public.”

      The woodwork leads towards the en-suite bathroom at the front of the house, whose walls and pitched ceiling is is covered in grey concrete.
      “The wood wrapper cradles the bed and weaves around the closet to direct the eye toward the bathing suite: an intimate room clad in concrete tile with a soaring pitched roof,” it added.

      StudioAC was founded in 2015 by architects Jennifer Kudlats and designer Andrew Hill, who met while working at KPMB Architects in Toronto.
      Other Toronto house renovations by the studio include Candy Loft, Hilton House and Pape Loft that was once a church. In one of its more recent projects it took cues from the work of late American designer Donald Judd to create a home “disguised as a gallery”.
      Photography is by Jeremie Warshafsky.

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      StudioAC designs Toronto house “disguised as a gallery”

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      Canadian architectural practice StudioAC has taken cues from the work of late American designer Donald Judd for fittings inside this Toronto home. Called Shallmar Residence, the two-storey home was renovated by the local studio for a family of five with an impressive collection of Canadian art. It dates back to the 1950s and is located […] More