Press Release
Yuan Tu Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Lemon Grass Restaurant in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
Yuan Tu acknowledged for interior space and exhibition design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 26, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Lemon Grass Restaurant by Yuan Tu, designed for XTDZ Design, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Lemon Grass Restaurant
Lemon Grass is a mixed-use commercial interior in Sanya, China, combining a coffee area, a bar, and a restaurant across two levels. Folding doors and deep eaves blur the boundary between indoors and outdoors, and preserved coconut trees provide natural shade. Local materials such as volcanic rock, sand-textured finishes, and rattan furniture reflect the tropical setting. Passive cooling and intelligent environmental control improve performance, creating a climate-adaptive space that unites function and regional character.
About Yuan Tu
An experienced designer firmly believes that design originates from details and achieves greatness through vision. Starting with the smallest sketch every line stroke material choice and thoughtful concept is refined with meticulous care ultimately bringing forth the grandeur and excellence of a space. Upholding environmental sustainability as a core value the designer advocates a design approach that prioritizes soft furnishings over hard decor. This method minimizes resource waste caused by excessive renovation and employs more flexible and creative ways to craft spaces that seamlessly integrate aesthetics with functionality.
Award Record
With this recognition, Yuan Tu is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award
The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Entries typically include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. Awarded interior designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/interior
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/176553
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/176553
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!176553
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/373699
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Lemon Grass Restaurant
- Function
- Restaurant
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Sienna, Saddle Brown, Dim Gray, Peru and Dark Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- XTDZ Design
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Yuan Tu
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #176553
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer XTDZ DESIGN, Lemon Grass, 2023.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This project creates a leisure space in Sanya through mixed-use formats. Daytime coffee and nighttime drinks on the first floor shift via folding doors, while an independent restaurant upstairs offers intimacy. Preserved coconut groves, shaded eaves, and local volcanic rock and sand-textured walls bring tropical charm. Passive cooling and community activity planning enhance climate adaptability and sustainability, embodying locality, flexibility, and ecological symbiosis.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by Hainan's tropical scenery and slow life, the design draws on Sanya's sea breezes and coconut groves. Traditional open structures guide the use of operable doors, windows, and shading eaves to blur indoors and outdoors. Southeast Asian layouts and Li-style materials like volcanic rock and wood shape a tropical tone. Day-night commercial layering and preserved vegetation reflect local nature, culture, and commerce.
- Research
- Rooted in Sanya's climate and mixed-use demands, this study used site surveys, climate data, BIM modeling, and material testing with architects, craftsmen, and operators. Results show folding doors cut energy use 28 percent, local materials boost identity, and day-night switching raises efficiency 45 percent. This sets new tropical design standards, proving localized strategies unite value, benefit, and innovation.
- Challenge
- The mix of daytime coffee, nighttime drinks, and an upstairs restaurant maximizes space. Folding doors and coconut grove shading offer climate-adaptive design, while volcanic rock bars and wood-grain aluminum add local warmth. Courtyard and roof blur boundaries for interaction. Future smart doors and mist cooling will further balance flexibility, ecology, and cultural expression to enhance user experience.
- Realization and Technology
- Rooted in Hainan's climate and culture, local volcanic rock forms the bar, wood-grain aluminum panels add warmth with moisture resistance, and sand-textured walls enhance breathability. Soft furnishings use treated solid wood and local rattan for durability. Preserved coconut trees, permeable paving, corrosion- and termite-resistant wood, and rustproof metal join natural ventilation and shading to build a low-maintenance sustainable space.
- Operation and Interaction
- BIM design aligned structure and landscape to preserve trees, while on-site sample testing avoided rework. Steel structures and custom furniture were fabricated simultaneously, artistic paint tested after hidden works, and doors installed alongside smart debugging. Parallel workflows cut construction time by 30 percent, and real-scene sampling ensured design effects, unifying architecture, nature, function, and aesthetics.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in July 2023 and finished in October 2023 in China.
- Specifications
- Tailored for the tropical coast, folding aluminum doors use Low-E glass, roof eaves are sun-optimized, and wall insulation pairs with VRV AC and carbon dioxide-sensing fresh air systems. Volcanic rock counters and fluorocarbon-coated panels resist salt and corrosion. Intelligent systems link environmental monitoring, electric shading, and energy control, ensuring technical integration enhances spatial quality and operational efficiency.
- Keywords
- Interior Design, Commercial Space, Leisure, Mixed-use Business Format, Coffee, Bar, Restaurant, Sustainability, Sanya, Locality
