Silver Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2024
Y Club Bar and Restaurant
- A' Design Award 2024 Silver Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- CLIENT: SANJ Design Studio
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 21,151
- Verification code 035BC035AC · Verify this award
About Y Club Bar and Restaurant
The design of Y Club Bar and Restaurant combined multiple dining experiences in one place and have controlled the use of materials to create a simple and pure club space. Inspired by the Roaring Twenties, a short but special period, the project aims to present a black and gold era. The whole design discards the exaggerated decoration and creates a mysterious and exquisite club experience by carefully planning the space, selecting the materials and creating the lighting with care.
SANJ Design Studio's Y Club Bar and Restaurant emerges from the lineage of contemporary hospitality design that privileges atmospheric immersion and material sophistication over mere decorative embellishment, positioning itself within a tradition that traces from the theatrical interiors of mid-century supper clubs through the refined minimalism of contemporary Japanese izakayas to the experiential dining environments that have redefined social gathering spaces in recent decades. The design demonstrates exceptional command of what might be termed luminous architecture, wherein light becomes a primary material shaped and directed with the same intentionality applied to solid surfaces, the undulating ceiling treatment serving as both functional diffuser and sculptural presence that transforms utilitarian illumination into spatial poetry. The chromatic restraint evident throughout—limiting the palette primarily to earth tones, metallic finishes, and strategic blue accents—suggests a mature design sensibility that understands how reduction amplifies impact, each color choice carrying greater weight within the controlled vocabulary. The perforated screens introduce a meditative quality through their patterned apertures, evoking traditional architectural screens found across numerous cultures while maintaining contemporary material expression through their evident metallic fabrication. Thematically, the space appears to explore the tension between intimacy and sophistication, creating zones of privacy within the larger volume through the careful arrangement of seating clusters and the strategic deployment of partial visual barriers that suggest rather than enforce separation. The sophisticated interplay of reflection and absorption, light and shadow, smooth and textured surfaces demonstrates a design philosophy wherein every material choice participates in constructing atmosphere. One might contemplate how such environments shape our social interactions, whether the deliberate cultivation of mystery and warmth encourages different modes of conversation and connection than brighter, more exposed settings would permit.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Located in the CBD area of Xiamen Strait Business Center, Y-CLUB is positioned as a high end business hospitality club. The design hopes to incorporate the Roaring Twenties, a brief but special period of time, into the space, aiming to provide a high-end business bar and dining complex for office workers.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The entire project, totaling 700 square meters, consists of nine themed private rooms and an open teppanyaki area, as well as common areas.
- Tags
- Restaurant, Bar, Black, Gold
- Production Technology
- In terms of materials, the entire public teppanyaki area uses golden frosted stainless steel as the main material for the large wall façade, which outlines the different dimensions of reality and emptiness through the treatment of solid blocks and perforated openings.The private room design has difference themes, which guests can choose according to their preferences.
- Design Challenge
- The centerpiece of the bar area is a through-height cocktail bar that extends from the floor to the ceiling, creating an arched shape with a stronger viewing and visual impact. With the open design, the bartending counter becomes another experience for customers to watch the bartender's skills in close proximity, in addition to the teppanyaki area. The boutique bar area features an infinitely dimmable and color-changing lighting effect, which creates a relaxing and exclusive environment through the adjustment of light color and intensity.
- Project Duration
- The project started in June 2020 in China and finished in September 2022.
- Operation Flow
- Hidden in the second floor of the podium, the Y-CLUB clubhouse will be accessed through a modern, metal-themed suspended staircase. The entire structure of the staircase is fixed above the ceiling and the openwork tread design creates a floating staircase in the air. Visitors will feel surrounded by a huge metal object as they walk up the stairs, feel their way through the holes in the perforated panels, and wind their way up the suspended staircase into the main club space on the second floor.
- Research
- In order to plan the space rationally, the whole design stretches the layout of the walkway route to create a recessed independent space, combining lighting design and material use to distinguish the blocks without causing functional confusion, so that the distribution of different functional spaces is balanced and echoes each other.
- Inspiration
- The entire project is characterized by seven themes that provide guests with a variety of spaces to explore from within the bar, which includes nine themed private rooms and an open teppanyaki area. In addition, each themed space presents a unique dining environment with a variety of colors to create an impressive visual sensory experience and an immersive atmosphere.
- Image Credits
- Guang Xian Ying Xiang