design firm catanian recently completed the tingzhen beef rice noodles, a small restaurant situated in wangjing soho, beijing, china. the client wanted to transmit the unique flavor of a bowl of beef rice noodles he remembers since his childhood, and wanted to commemorate his late grandmother. deeply touched by the client’s story, the designers conceived an unforgettable dining experience.
when approaching the project, catanian’s aim was to restore the oriental ‘literati spirit’. excluding the kitchen, the restaurant’s functional space occupied less than 50 square meters. so it became a challenge to create fantastic spatial effects while evoking deep feelings in such a limited space. the client’s love of his grandmother and fortunate inheritance of her recipe inspired the centerpiece of the crystallized bowl of rice noodles.
the dramatic sculpture illuminates the space and cascades over the guests during dinner. the light and ephemeral structure creates spatial effects in the restaurant, taking up most of the ceiling. the designer’s abstract sculpture appears to shine against the dark background surfaces, appearing to flow out of the restaurant’s center.
the entire space is endowed with a chinese-style implicit aesthetic. though the interior is implicit, it’s powerful enough to inspire and evoke expectations. as for spatial forms and rhythms, the designer abandoned conventional design approaches, and shook off stylized symbols. the interlacing white lines symbolize memories, and echo with the white rice noodles in bowls.
when the guests sit down and have a bowl of beef rice noodles that carry memories, they become totally immersed in the ambience and experience within the space. time in the restaurant becomes a large borderless net, where people’s emotions, hopes and regrets interweave. the thin structure carries with it the collective childhood memories of a bowl of rice noodles.
project info:
project name: tingzhen beef rice noodles
interior design firm: catanian
designer: wang zhongli
decoration engineering firm: anyuezhai decoration design engineering (beijing) co., ltd.
location: f2, t3, wangjing soho, chaoyang district, beijing
category: dining space
area: 50 m2
completion: october 30, 2019
photographer: jinweiqi
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: cristina gomez | designboom
