Gold Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2020
Ricky's Kitchen Restaurant
by Alvan Suen
- A' Design Award 2020 Gold Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2020
- CLIENT: The Food Story HK Limited
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 38,409
- Verification code 6BF177FC13 · Verify this award
About Ricky's Kitchen Restaurant
Ricky's Kitchen is a restaurant interior in Hong Kong. The design reinterprets the city while keeping the brand identity. The feature wall uses materials that suggest a forest of concrete, with geometry recalling building facades with balconies and lighting that mimics lit households. A central linear LED ceiling represents the narrow strip of sky seen between high-rise buildings, and Leon lights on both sides recall highway traffic in long exposure photography. A T-shaped layout forms four semi-private zones, and benches with movable tables suit groups of different sizes.
This striking interior composition, evocative of contemporary interpretations of traditional spatial philosophies, presents a dining environment where architectural ambition and atmospheric refinement achieve remarkable synthesis. The design appears to draw upon deep cultural traditions of creating meaningful thresholds and visual journeys, transforming the act of dining into a procession through carefully choreographed spatial experiences. The central moon gate aperture, traditionally associated with passage between worldly and contemplative realms, here frames living bamboo, perhaps suggesting the restaurant as a liminal space between urban intensity and natural tranquility. The undulating wall surfaces, whose rhythmic horizontal waves might reference traditional roof tile patterns abstracted into contemporary sculptural expression, demonstrate exceptional material sophistication, their dark glazed surfaces capturing light in ways that animate the space with subtle luminous variation. The designer demonstrates considerable command of atmospheric perspective, using the gradual transition from warm foreground wood tones through neutral middle passages to the cool green terminus to create psychological as well as physical depth. The ceiling treatment, with its luminous central spine suggesting an inverted vessel or perhaps abstracted cloud formation, provides both functional illumination and symbolic overhead presence, transforming utilitarian lighting into architectural gesture. The mirror-like floor surface doubles the visual complexity while suggesting traditional water features that often accompany contemplative garden spaces. One might observe how the strict bilateral symmetry creates a sense of ceremonial importance, elevating the dining experience from mere sustenance to ritual occasion. The careful placement of circular plates echoing the distant circular aperture establishes subtle formal rhymes that reward attentive observation, inviting viewers to consider how the smallest details participate in larger compositional harmonies.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Reinterpreting “Hong Kong”, translating it into visualization while keeping the identity of the brand has become the challenge of designing the Ricky’s Kitchen branch. For the feature wall, the use of materials represents forest of concrete, the geometry renders the building facade with balconies as well as the density of the city, and the lighting mimics the households in the buildings. For the ceiling, the white LED in the center represents the “Linear Sky Exposure” of Hong Kong, the Leon light on both sides imitate the long exposure photography of highway, symbolizing prosperous Hong Kong and heavy traffic. In terms of futuristic touch, linear LED light, the floating-like portal with bamboo and infinity mirror are designed in respect of the original.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Area: 1358 sq.ft.
Capacity: 66 - Tags
- Hong Kong Style, Fusion, Lighting, Leon, Futuristic
- Production Technology
- For the feature wall, the blocks were not made and installed one by one but in a few prefabricated panels. The pattern was designed with the script, generated and calculated by the computer.
In order to make sure the final result is ideal and everything works and fits, the project was mainly created in the computer; rendering is heavily used for testing different materials and calculating lux as well as color temperature for all lightings throughout the entire design process. For communicating on-site with the contractor, besides the construction drawing set, a virtual reality walk-through was also created for the workers to quickly understand the project. - Design Challenge
- To preserve the local elements of Hong Kong on one hand, whilst incorporating Japanese elements on the other has been a great challenge to us in the development of the design as both of these cultures are unique and significant in their own way. We experimented with various expressions on the traditions and cultures with representation in the spaces and choice of materials. For instance, in order to create a large sense of space in the relatively narrow site, a fair amount of mirrors has been implemented.
- Project Duration
- The project is located in K11 Art Mall, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The design was started in June 2019 and the construction was finished in November 2019.
- Operation Flow
- The "T" layout creates four semi-private zones for different sizes of gathering, including the head, the two wings, and the middle. Bench with movable tables also allows flexibility in terms of operation to cater to different groups of guests.
- Inspiration
- Advocating the spirit of fusion while reinterpreting and illustrating Hong Kong in the design is what the goal is, which parallels with the goal of the brand.
Inspiring by this unique scenery of the city of Hong Kong, illustrating a “one-line sky” scenery, that represents what people see overhead in the street while surrounded by high-rise buildings.
Contributing to the “one-line sky”, cantilever structure above the walkway is seen very often in the city to further narrowing the street due to highly valued land, which we try to create that feeling abstractly.
The feature wall was inspired by the night view of the city, the use of the material is symbolizing “concrete forest” the nickname of Hong Kong.
LEON light is also used due to the impression internationally, the way of representation is coming from the traffic of highway in the camera under long exposure. - Image Credits
- Photographer: Yui Zhu, Kaman Tjang
Video Credits: Yui Zhu, Kaman Tjang - Patents
- Copyrights belong to Alvan Suen, 2020
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