Restaurant

The project is a renovation to divide a 130-year-old storehouse built in the Meiji era into a French restaurant “NIM” and a residence for the owner-chef and his family in Daishinmachi, that retains the traditional townscape of Hida Takayama. The exterior is almost untouchable because the storehouse is located in the Important Preservation District for Groups of Historical Buildings designated by Takayama City. The client asked me to take advantage of this constraint and create an interior with a worldview that would be unimaginable from the exterior. I have visited the existing storehouse without any preconceived notions or design ideas. The structure was very impressive because it was quite large for a storehouse, with a frontage of 4 spans and a girder of 8 spans and it has a rugged frame typical of Takayama, with a ridgepole made of splendid logs and two intersecting beams. I felt that the scale of the space, the framework of the structure, and the unique atmosphere created by the darkness of the storehouse should be respected. On the other hand, it was difficult to divide into two uses by inserting a wall without destroying this spatial characteristic. The design theme was the action itself of inserting a wall to divide it into two uses and the interior of the store was completed with only the inserted wall because I wanted to limit the scope of modifications due to the budget limited.

Mayha on Chiltern Street is a two-floor gastronomic adventure. The ground floor offers an Omakase experience while the lower ground floor is conceived around a Japanese bar with a connection to an outdoor courtyard.

An Italian restaurant that brings something special to an ordinary day. As for food, heavy foods like pasta and steak are on the ‘dark line’. Light foods such as salads and desserts are organized in the ‘light line’. In the name of light and darkness, ‘LIGHT SPACE’ tried to express light and brightness, lightness, and open nature. ‘DARK SPACE’ is expressed as darkness, heaviness, and closed space. It was designed as a space where light and darkness circulate.

In Eindhoven, the former NRE site has been transformed by De Bever Architecten into a contemporary center. The former site was designed by Architect, Louis J.P. Kooken (1867-1940), founder of De Bever Architecten, as a gas factory with a specific architectural quality.

Originally conceived as a cannabis lounge, Stella’s Cucina sits in the core of a new commercial building facing Boulder’s Historic District. As the enterprise could not be seen from the exterior, the space does not establish relationships with the city; therefore, we envisioned the project as an inheritor of the Speakeasy underground scene of the American Prohibition era and we sought the opportunity to bring natural light through a central skylight. This idea of an old-fashioned, elegant, but concealed space, profoundly influenced the design of the project. Only an “S” indicates Stella’s entrance on Walnut Street, hidden behind a towering 12 feet aluminum door under a perforated metal canopy.

The Icte ecosystem. Iche was born after the earthquake of April 2016, as a space whose main goal is to make food a powerful tool to transform society. With Manabita food as its center, Iche is an ecosystem that is made up of training, R&D, and incubation units that value traditions and integrates innovation into the different processes. As part of the territorial development, Iche forms together with other institutions the joint route of tourism and gastronomy in Manabí and is part of the International Network of Culinary Innovation Laboratory.

Located in the heart of MiMo in Miami, the famously known french-Venezuelan artisan bakery – Caracas Bakery – opens its second location in Miami. Inspired by Minimalist Scandinavian design, using wood, and a mix of neutral/earth tones the natural materials of the new location set off a new branding and concept identity for the well-known cafe.