Designer Wei Wu from IN.X strikes again with the recently renovated Siji Minfu Peking Chamber – a 1,280 sqm restaurant in Hujialou, Beijing. Within a limited space, the team has created a miniature universe ‘where mountains, rocks, vegetation, stars, and coasts are all emerging indistinctly‘ – giving the catering brand Siji Minfu yet another breakthrough in the Chinese dining culture. Today, enveloped by densely arranged black stones, the restaurant frontage silently greets passersby with an impressive visual display.

Injecting raw, natural textures
For this project, designer Wei Wu magnifies rough textures to a great extent. Once guests enter through the angled and narrow main door, a waiting area welcomes them with a spellbinding staircase hand-made on site using randomly spliced wooden slats that lead to the upper dining area. Complementing that striking wooden pattern, Wu installed across the restaurant copper panels covered in ‘splashing paint’ effects. Those strong textures are accentuated by special blue-purple lighting features – evoking an imaginary world ‘where the rough and raw nature releases its vitality,’ shares the designer.

The main dining area is located on the second floor, with a long and narrow landscape feature set in the center of the entire space. Both the lush greenery and dark stone surfaces form a strong visual contrast that further emphasizes the relaxing and refreshing effect emanating from the landscaped center. The ‘splashed’ copper panels also find their way into the dining space – injecting vitality and spatial continuity. Adding more earthy flair to the design, a large number of chopped wood is piled up inside meshed metal walls that counterbalance the chic table displays.

The use of a simple and natural palette, artistic techniques and special lighting makes the entire restaurant stand out. Traditional terrazzo and bold hues are matched to appropriately embellish the space, while bright and colorful lights flow from the ground floor to the upper dining area. Furthermore, the natural growth of the indoor plants plays on shadow and light, adding an element of surprise and a sense of continuous pumping vitality while diners chat and glasses clink. All in all, traditional Chinese designs are married with strong contemporary accents to create a new world within a 1,280 sqm space.