Chinese studio 0321 has inserted a rose-tinted box into the front of this restaurant-cum-flower shop in Dongguan, China, allowing diners and passers-by a glimpse of the blooms inside. The Nous restaurant is situated in the city’s Dongcheng district, and offers both a dining space and florist where visitors are encouraged to explore the connection between different flowers and food ingredients. The owners tasked Shenzhen-based studio 0321 with creating a space that “solves the relationship between flora and dining in a visual, functional and emotional way”.

To achieve this, the studio decided to house the florist within a pink translucent box, visually connecting it to the restaurant behind. At its centre sits a long counter used to display bunches of flowers, which create a partial screen between the street and diners in the restaurant. “The design concept proposes to rethink the necessity of easily recognising a restaurant from the outside,” said the practice. “We like this kind of conflict and interference, rather than a mediocre and harmonious coexistence.”

Storage is provided by matching pink cabinetry, while lighting in the ceiling illuminates the volume at night. Inside the restaurant has been completed almost entirely in dark grey terrazzo with oversized white aggregate, which the architects used to create an “extreme visual experience”. This is complemented by metal tabletops and slate-coloured textile cushions on the bench seats. Rosy-hued tiles that subtly vary in tone have also been used to clad the restaurant’s front elevation.

Other than a mirrored panel that the studio has hung along a peripheral wall, decoration has been kept to a minimum. Continuing the material palette of the flower shop, a staircase with a pink glass balustrade and terrazzo steps leads diners to the second floor.

Designed by 0321
Photography by Meat Mountain




https://www.dezeen.com/2018/04/22/0321-interior-design-nous-restaurant-florist-china-dongguan/