Transportational interiors
Seeking an edge that goes beyond their menus, cafés and restaurants are conjuring up elaborate interiors that transport consumers to exotic locales. Now getting a cup of coffee can involve a walk through a Zen-like garden and ordering a cocktail can propel you to outer space.
At a Beijing shopping mall branch of Shanghai chain Seesaw Coffee, Nota Architects has created a stone path through lush foliage and mossy boulders, with cherry blossoms overhead and occasional puffs of white fog to add to the atmosphere. Wooden decks and benches ring the space, with the coffee bar theatrically positioned on a softly lit stage.
At Shanghai tea house Icha Chateau, design studio Spacemen hung 35,000 meters of shimmering, layered gold chains from the ceiling, evoking traditional Chinese tea terraces. The opulent interior underlines the rising design stakes in a city that also houses the largest Starbucks in the world, where coffee is described as theatre.
Tokyo also has its share of transportational interiors. Nikunotoriko serves Japanese-style barbecue, competing with countless other restaurants in the city. The difference here is that architect Ryoji Iedokoro has created a dining room in a cave, employing low lighting, walls of jagged rock and a translucent floor that resembles water underfoot.
Those wanting to be transported even further can head to Tokyo’s Bar Planetaria, owned by Konica Minolta, which constructs and operates planetarium theatre. The planetarium hosts regular drink and food evenings, where for a few hours, Tokyo denizens can kick back on a circular sofa and drink among the stars. From August to November 2019, the domed theatre offered views of the Hawaiian night sky.
A planetarium-like domed ceiling also features in upscale Copenhagen restaurant Alchemist. The domed area is one of several sections that diners experience on a visit that could last up to five hours. There might be images of jellyfish swimming among plastic bags overhead, to raise awareness of sea pollution, or a dark sky streaked with the northern lights.
Rasmus Munk, the chef and founder of Alchemist, told Food & Wine magazine the restaurant is designed to make you feel “as though you’ve left the outside world and arrived somewhere new.” Hence it may not, as its website warns, be ideal for business discussions or nervous first dates.
Why it’s interesting: Transportational interiors are emerging at a time when competition is heating up among cafés and restaurants. This is particularly true when it comes to capturing generation Z, which prizes experience and yearns for a story behind every cup of tea or coffee. These cafés and restaurants provide brief moments of escape from busy cities, without having to board a train, a plane—or a rocket ship.
