Yuntu: A Banquet Restaurant Infused with Song Dynasty Aesthetics

Shang Cai's Design Transforms Space into a Song Dynasty-Inspired Masterpiece

Yuntu, a banquet restaurant designed by Shang Cai, is a testament to the artistic peak of China's Song Dynasty. The design is inspired by Emperor Song Huizong's azure porcelain, a symbol of the era's artistic prowess. The restaurant's color palette, predominantly azure with hints of black and white, creates an ethereal and clean space that encapsulates the aesthetic features of the Song Dynasty.

The restaurant is designed to cater to large-scale events such as weddings and celebrations, necessitating a strong artistic presence and romantic temperament. Shang Cai achieves this by incorporating the freehand brushwork techniques of the Song Dynasty and color matching skills to create an illusory landscape of mountains, sea, clouds, moonlight, and flowers.

The design process involved three key aspects: spatial planning, artistic expression, and color matching. The space is divided into three parts, each with different shapes, materials, light, and colors to create a layered effect. The artistic expression is achieved through the use of freehand brushwork techniques, while the color matching reflects the simple color concept prevalent in the Song Dynasty's art creations.

The project spans an area of 1400 square meters with a floor height of 8 meters. The guests first pass through a 60-meter-long blue transparent passageway to a black-and-white event hall with a cloud-shaped device serving as partition, and finally into a huge, dreamy banquet hall. This carefully designed spatial motion lines and color contrast endow the space with a sense of rhythm and ceremony, transporting guests from the city's hustle and bustle into a crystal sky theme space with flowing clouds.

The project was completed in January 2019 after a nine-month construction period. It is located in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China. The design was awarded Golden in A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award in 2020, a testament to Shang Cai's exceptional design skills and creativity.

Despite the challenges of presenting the vitality of Song Dynasty artworks in a modern commercial space, Shang Cai successfully created a space atmosphere full of vitality and dreamy color. The copyright of this design belongs to Shang Cai, and the photographs were taken by Ainiu.