Born from a popular Chinese company that sells healthy meals via mobile, Green Option Food Court is the newest addition to a multifunctional building that also houses a spa and yoga centre, clubhouse and office in Beijing. The dining space speaks to wellness-savvy diners on two levels: First, it equates the term ‘food court’ with salads and healthy foods instead of fried-everything and burgers. Second, its design provides an attentive user experience often forsaken in the communal dining areas for convenience and speed.

Ramoprimo, a Beijing-based architectural design practice founded by Italian architects, was briefed to express the client’s sophisticated yet informal ethos through an enticing dining space. The company sought a gathering post that would help young Chinese customers detach from the hustle and bustle of urban life while eating. The resulting restaurant is like a spatial shot of green juice, marrying the promise of healthy food and meditative spatial hypnosis in one go.

The project´s development began with a design strategy set in place by Ramoprimo to unify the fragmented functional spaces of the previous layout. To do so, the team´s designers employed the mesmerism well-thought-out surfaces can provide. White curved iron strips, separated by acrylic and LED lighting lines, bring cohesion to the whole environment, which consists of a café, restaurant, cocktail bar and external patio. A uniform background achieved by way of grey concrete walls juxtapose the all-encompassing ceiling overhead and terrazzo flooring in varying tones of grey help demarcate the transition of spaces from one to the next.

Whether customers are visiting to detox during a lunch break, socialize with colleagues or friends or squeeze in some emails during a quick meal, inviting seating choices organized around a system of platforms and benches act to serve to their needs. The high-speed pace of life in Beijing and other capital cities often demands debilitating efficiency. More and more, though, we’re seeing spaces rearing their head to this – designers are helping to connect the act of eating back with rejuvenation. By minding the need for empathetic, wellness-driven restaurants in the cutthroat Chinese city, Ramoprimo delivers to those that need a spatial prompt to slow down.