Tarentum: A Greek-Themed Restaurant with a Unique Karst Cave Design

Bin Liu's Award-Winning Design Brings the Mediterranean to Wuhan

Recently opened in Wuhan, Tarentum is the first store of the Greek-themed restaurant chain from Shenzhen. The brand aims to bring the Mediterranean ocean style to the city streets of Wuhan, offering a day-and-night lifestyle. The design's intention is to create an immersive cultural experience, allowing customers to enjoy an exotic style and taste the delicate and elegant Greek cultural style in a panoramic way, from the whole to the details and from the structure to the furnishings.

The unique properties of Tarentum's design lie in its innovative inspiration from the natural karst cave of Mykonos Island. The cave serves as the theme element, enhancing the unique Greek culture and highlighting the brand's cultural gene. The restaurant's design materials include micro-cement, mattile, marble, and Xintong lighting, all of which contribute to the overall Mediterranean aesthetic.

The restaurant covers a total area of three hundred and eighty-six square meters, including indoor and outdoor spaces. The indoor space comprises a customer area of 276 square meters, a bar of 20 square meters, and a kitchen of 40 square meters. The dining tables, varying in shape and size, cater to different customer needs. The interior space can accommodate 104 customers, while the outdoor area offers 24 seats.

The design process involved a series of steps, including exploration, space analysis, conception, design draft, design modification, plane graph, impression drawing, feedback, design finalization, construction drawing, construction, soft decoration, inspection, and completion. The project started in February 2022 in Wuhan and was completed in May 2022.

Bin Liu faced several challenges during the design process. The Greek culture is colorful, but finding and conceiving the materials needed to create the artistic conception was not easy. Spatial interpretation and cultural differences also posed challenges for the designer. However, through research and understanding of Wuhan's regional cultural characteristics, catering consumption habits, and aesthetic preferences, Bin Liu successfully realized the fusion of brand and consumer culture.

For his remarkable work, Bin Liu was awarded Silver in A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award in 2023. The award recognizes top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that illustrate outstanding expertise and innovation. Tarentum, with its strong technical characteristics and splendid artistic skill, indeed introduces positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.