All projects Interior Design

Wasabi Restaurant

KSA · 2022

A restaurant banquette wall of white geometric plaster relief panels above a long run of cognac leather seating.

Wasabi is built on one idea repeated at every scale: set a hard material next to a soft one, and let the lighting decide the mood. Sculptural geometric relief panels in white plaster run the length of the banquette wall, the floor is honed grey terrazzo, and the seating is cognac leather. None of those is a warm material on its own.

What warms them is the light. A continuous cove washes the relief wall so the geometry reads as shadow rather than pattern, and pendants drop low over each table to hold a pool of light at eye level. The plan splits the room along its length into a dark, enclosed banquette side and a bright side facing the planted terrace, filtered through a perforated screen. One interior, two quite different places to sit.

Everything was drawn to the level a maker can build from: the relief panels, the fluted timber reception, the brass and leather bar stools, the marble and terrazzo tabletops, and the lighting positions that make the whole thing work.

The full length of the restaurant in daylight, with a dark banquette side on the left and a bright terrace-facing side on the right.
The full length of the room in daylight. The dark banquette side and the bright terrace side are separated by a single circulation spine running the depth of the plan.
The same restaurant interior in the evening, lit by cove lighting and low pendants over the tables.
The same view in the evening. With the cove and the pendants doing the work, the relief wall reads as texture and the room closes in around the tables.
A dining area with a line-drawn mural of faces above walnut panelling, and full-height glazing onto a planted courtyard.
The terrace room, where a line-drawn mural of faces runs above walnut panelling and full-height glazing opens onto the planted courtyard.
A long timber bar counter on a concrete base, with leather and brass stools and a curved recessed wine niche behind.
The bar: a long timber counter over a concrete base, with the wine display recessed into a curved niche and leather-and-brass stools repeating the palette.
A restaurant reception desk in fluted timber and patinated brass, lit by a neon sign and a linear brass pendant.
Reception, in fluted timber and patinated brass, lit by a neon sign and a linear brass pendant.
An overhead view of a restaurant booth with grey sofas, an oval timber table and a marble mosaic floor inset into terrazzo.
A booth on the terrace side seen from above, with a marble mosaic floor inset into the terrazzo and a planter separating the seating from the glazing.
A bar elevation with a recessed wine display and menu categories set into the wall beside it.
The bar elevation, with the wine display recessed into the curved niche and the menu categories set into the wall beside it.
A long run of leather banquette seating with oval timber tables beneath a lit plaster relief wall.
The banquette run at full length, the relief wall lit from the cove above and oval timber tables set out along it.
A bright restaurant area with olive velvet armchairs, grey booths, a planted trough and a perforated screen filtering daylight.
The terrace side in full daylight: olive velvet armchairs, grey upholstered booths, a planted trough, and the perforated screen that keeps the glare off.
The main dining floor with marble-topped tables and black chairs, looking back toward the bar and signage wall.
The main dining floor, with marble-topped tables and black chairs, looking back toward the bar and the signage wall.
Next project Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)

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