Pekin Kaku: A New Dawn in Chinese Restaurant Design

Revolutionizing Chinese Restaurant Aesthetics with Simplicity and Cultural Heritage

Red, a symbol of joy, happiness, and good fortune in Chinese culture, is often used in Chinese restaurant designs, typically as red lacquered walls. However, prolonged exposure to the bright-red color can cause visual fatigue. Pekin Kaku, in a refreshing twist, inverts this norm by introducing a Red-Aurora ceiling, created using a red string curtain, offering a visually stimulating yet soothing atmosphere.

The restaurant, in contrast to the typical heavy ornamental atmosphere of Chinese restaurants, creates a Chinese ambiance using simple lines, specific materials, and contemporary illuminated displays. These displays feature elements of Chinese heritage, such as the legendary Red Hare, Ceramics, and Terracotta Soldiers, all set against walls treated in traditional dark Shanghai bricks.

The realization of the design presented its challenges, particularly in creating the oscillating string curtain. The solution lay in using 90cm diameter circles made by wood lattices fixed in the dark painted ceiling, allowing the curtain to oscillate along the circle's perimeter. This innovative approach ensured the creation of the desired aurora atmosphere while remaining budget-friendly.

The design's interaction is another noteworthy aspect. The journey from the restaurant's exterior to the main dining room offers insights into Chinese cultural heritage. A hybrid Japanese-Chinese garden provides a smooth transition from the Japanese urban atmosphere to the Chinese interior, announced by two terracotta warriors. A Red-Hare sculpture at the dining room entrance stands within a Shanghai-brick display, backlit for dramatic effect, and open to a background display of fine Chinese ceramics.

The project's most significant challenge was to create a Chinese atmosphere without resorting to heavy ornamental details, such as dragons and wooden patterns typically found in Chinese restaurants. The design team aimed to create a Chinese feeling using specific materials and simplicity of lines, in line with contemporary design tendencies. The fact that the project was a renovation work further limited the freedom of managing the provided space.

In conclusion, Pekin Kaku's new renovation offers a stylistic reinterpretation of what a Beijing style restaurant could be, rejecting the traditional abundantly ornamental design in favor of a more simplistic architectonics. The design was awarded Silver in A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award in 2017, a testament to its innovative and remarkable design that introduces positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.