Gold Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2020
Omakase Restaurant
by Tianwen Sun
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: Shanghai Hip-pop Design Team
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 63,206
- Verification code D7899973AA · Verify this award
About Omakase Restaurant
Omakase is a restaurant interior design for a kaiseki dining space in Shanghai, China. The design concept combines sakura petals and dewdrops within glass partitions, creating a clear decorative effect. Multiple layers of glass reflect light and shadow to form a dream-like setting. Pink sakura motifs contrast with a golden tatami room. The main materials are glass, paint and tatami, selected with environmental protection in mind. The building has two floors and a total area of 140 square meters. Central air conditioning, fire sprinklers and kitchen fittings support a safe dining space.
Omakase Restaurant by Tianwen Sun represents a remarkable achievement in contemporary hospitality design, demonstrating how spatial environments can transcend mere functionality to become immersive sensory experiences that engage visitors on emotional and cultural registers simultaneously. The work operates at the intersection of traditional aesthetic principles and contemporary technological possibilities, employing illumination as a primary architectural material rather than supplementary fixture. The designer appears to have drawn upon the rich heritage of screen-based spatial division, reinterpreting the translucent membrane as a theatrical element that both reveals and conceals, creating a liminal zone where the seated figure exists in a state of poetic ambiguity between presence and absence. The chromatic boldness of the crimson wall represents a confident departure from conventional neutral palettes, establishing an enveloping warmth that transforms the dining environment into something approaching sacred space. The geometric precision of the illuminated floor panels demonstrates exceptional attention to proportional relationships, with each module carefully scaled to create rhythmic visual music across the horizontal plane. Technical accomplishment is evident in the seamless integration of light sources within architectural surfaces, achieving effects that appear effortless despite their considerable complexity. Thematically, the space seems to explore tensions between intimacy and ceremony, tradition and innovation, concealment and revelation, inviting contemplation of how environments shape human experience and social ritual. The work may reference historical precedents in atmospheric interior design while pushing toward new expressive territories enabled by contemporary materials and illumination technologies. Visitors encountering this space might consider how the careful orchestration of color, light, and geometry transforms the simple act of dining into an aesthetic journey, and how architecture at its finest serves not merely shelter but the elevation of everyday experience into something memorable and meaningful.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Started with the design concept of Sakura and dew, the Sakura petals and dewdrops are combined in the glass partition in a creative way, achieving a virtual-real synthesis and crystal-clear decorative effects. The adoption of decorative materials is based on environmental protection consideration.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The restaurant has 2 floors and the building area is 140 square meters, which is a relatively small project.
- Tags
- restaurant, interior, design, lighting, Japanese
- Production Technology
- The main materials include glass, paint and tatami. The multipul layers of glass reflect light and shadow so as to achieve a dream-like environment. The building is equipped with central air-conditioning system, fire sprinkler and kitchen fittings to ensure a safe dining space.
- Design Challenge
- The small area is a big restrict of the project.
- Project Duration
- The design work started in August 2018, and the construction is completed in January 2019 in Shanghai, China.
- Operation Flow
- The boundless pink Sakura is in contrast with the golden Tatami room, as if one entered a Sakura labyrinth. With the dynamic lighting, the blooming Sakura and exquisitely carved dewdrops make a feast of Sakura. Such a poetic environment seized the heart of a maiden.
- Research
- Whether a kaiseki cuisine is attractive is just determined at the moment when one entering the door. Omakase has created an eye-catching and romantic dining space. The entire space is just like a freehand brushwork painting, in which every diner becomes a part of the scenery.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the love story of Sakura rain, the design of Omakase erased the sadness of story without a trace. It broke some preconceived traditional ideas and challenged the widely accepted standard of behavior.