Architects are creating new experiences to stand out in the increasingly competitive dining and lifestyle landscapes that serve Asia’s urbanites. This means that a new wave of restaurants and cafes are taking their guests to a completely different world.
Nota Architects helped popular independent Shanghai coffee chain Seesaw Coffee evoke a trek in an ethereal natural retreat at its newest location, in a Beijing mall. Patrons have to walk through a Japanese-style rock garden on a stone path in order to reach the counter. The neatly raked stone gravel is dotted with mossy rocks and lush foliage. A smoke machine hidden in the garden creates a white fog, which sometimes envelopes the cherry blossoms. The space is completed with wooden decks, seating, and a bookshop.
The branch opened earlier this summer and is a far cry from Seesaw’s minimalist interiors. This includes a new location in Beijing’s WF Central mall, which opened in 2018. According to a report released by OC&C Strategy Consultants in January 2019, a higher percentage of Chinese Gen Zers prefer experiences to products. Seesaw takes these customers from the bustle of the mall and transports them to a tranquil zen garden without ever requiring that they leave the building.
The Shanghai tea house Icha Chateau collaborated with the local design studio Spacemen in order to create an upscale bar that evokes images of China’s famous tea terraces. The illusion of depth is created by hanging 35,000 meters of gold chains at different lengths from the ceiling.
Icha Chateau, China’s latest transportation tea shop, is one of the most recent examples. They are competing for market share with Starbucks (the world’s biggest and “most theatrical”) in a city that has the largest and “most dramatic” Starbucks, according to the brand. Mistea is another tea cafe in Shanghai that transports visitors to a futuristic wood, complete with curved wooden countertops, tree-like acrylic columns, and a highly reflective metallic ceiling. Frame says that the new environment “signals China’s reclamation” of a tea culture that is space-age. The focus on design has been encouraged by a younger generation that is more willing to spend money on products that offer a new experience, even if it brings them back home.
Clap, a Spanish architecture studio, has chosen an outer-space theme for the fashion boutique and café project Her. The layered terracotta pathway and oblong fixtures look as though they are set on a distant planet. Her is located in Hong Kong’s busy Causeway Bay. Its interior features an aluminum coffee counter, where vacuum-packed food is served to customers, evoking the idea of an Astronaut’s spacecraft. The studio said: “We envisioned Her as a sinuous terrain, with mountains that are impressive and pure materials, all together representing a new, yet-to-be-discovered space, like Mars.”
In Tokyo, Nikunotoriko is a destination for Japanese barbecue, just like countless other restaurants in the city. Ryoji Iedokoro, an architect, has created a restaurant that transports diners into the cave’s belly. Iedokoro said to Dezeen that yakiniku Japanese restaurants are everywhere. It’s always good, so the competition is high in Japan. It can be a real challenge to create a unique restaurant. Iedokoro chose a floor with a translucent appearance, which mimics the feel of water. Low-lit jagged walls complete the design. Steel pipes, which double as coat hooks, are covered with plants and bushes to give the impression that diners are grilling at a campsite.
These meta-destinations are a testament to the organic, elaborate environments that they offer. Travel does not require a plane, train, or anything else but a passion for culinary adventure.
