Page 28 - Designing Ways 245

COMMERCIAL
INTERIOR

XU JI Seafood Restaurant (Land Kylin)

Changsha, Hunan, China

T his is a land of illusion, where continuity of the overall spatial sequence.

By operating the structures and materials
morning
are
and
moonlight
intertwined. There is no water in
of the furnishings, the designer creates
the air but fish can swim in the forest and in the space, and intervening in the layout
the mist lingers there. You cannot decide multiple montage spaces with different
whether it’s in a dense forest or a deep ocean. sizes and states, which are connected with
The generation of designby no means each other.
comes from nothing. It may reproduce the The golden wine house, which is
vivid story of a certain period, or reflect inspired by the tea room, combines
spiritual thoughts. And here the dining classical and modern styles, covering
space with a ‘mysterious jungle’ as the core functions such as reception and tasting.
of the landscaping comes into being. The dense forest wraps around the golden
The guests enter the restaurant from area and becomes a self-evident way to
the 4th floor of W Hotel, where the light symbolise the process of meditation.
is suddenly dimmed and the space begins. This is a kind of commemoration of
Star spotlights come out from the ‘bottom oriental aesthetics. Its implicit inner
of the tree’. The Blue light floats in the quality is revealed through a modern
distance, and the big fish swims there, like context where the space is used as a
a dream and yet not. Guests will follow the medium to establish the relationship
light to enter, from the ‘jungle’ to the ‘deep between time and space, and creates a
ocean’, gradually into the mysterious realm. narrative.
Fragmented construction Pine shadow in the pond, fish on the tree
When reaching the central area, Baozhang Sun, the magistrate of Henan
the light floats from the giant curved in Qing Dynasty, said ‘Fishes swim across
LED screen at the top and dyes the the pine shadows in the pond like they’re
surroundings. Guests can see the whole on the tree. Horses gallop on the scholar
picture of the restaurant here. tree shadows on the ground like they’re
In the use of formal language, the on the branches.’, which has been taken as
designer adopts fragmented and de- the metaphor of the light reflection and
symbolized strategies but maintains the direct transmission.

28 Issue 245 • dw