T0 SUMIBI YAKINIKU | SHIBUYANAKA SUSHI | Chasing Wang

The overall design for T0 Japanese cuisine brand is inspired by Chinese five elements, namely metal, wood, water, fire and earth, which is coincident with their different series of products. Through one entrance, there are two dining zones, water and fire concept is respectively adopted in T0渋谷中すし| 炭火焼肉 restaurant that combining OMAKASE sushi and charcoal fire roasts. First, for the fusion of two elements, the traditional Japanese architectural wooden frame structure is borrowed to build up and divide the interior space. Meanwhile, two circulations for sushi (water) and yakiniku (fire) are arranged on an irregular layout, also, different dining zones are distinguished by different floor heights. Two zones are divided by a bidirectional glass wine cabinet in the middle, which can be opened at both sides and enable either zone to be seen from the other side. Besides, by means of “creating spaces within a space”, we embedded every private dinning rooms in the space, where layers of space by different floor height, collision of materials different in texture, lighting design in different ways, circulations in different orientation, and scenery is changing along with the moving between open and enclosed spaces, all of these are forming a fascinating sense of oriental mystery.

In the zone of fire (Yakiniku), the ground is paved with imperial kiln bricks that comes from the kiln exquisitely for Forbidden City and dyed with pig blood in dark red, and also with stone slabs that are burnt several times at an extremely high temperature and then hit and crafted it all by hands. To make wood partitions structure, old timber of Douglas fir discarded in Shanghai old buildings is recycled use and burnt through deep charcoal burning to create unique scale patterns. Upon structure that inlaid with luminous red-yellowish onyx with a special pattern like multiple layers of flames, several materials and LED light sheets is combined to suggest ‘fire’ elements. The zone of water (sushi) is as mild as water, to retain the circumstances and sentiment of water. The ground is also paved with imperial kiln bricks, but in pure black. In the making progress of art paint on walls, the golden powder was replaced with silver powder, matched with the texture of water ripples. An over 10 years quarry stone, under the scour and corrosion of rainwater, is selected for the backdrop of countertop, the cross-section of which is as rough as rocks dredged up from the lake, to create an artistic image of ‘water’. In addition, more details as the outdoor logo are made of pure bronze and hammered by hand, to show the spirit of craftsmanship. Two specially designed alabaster pendent lamps, which is inspired by umbrellas and canoe from the East, jointed with iron as their structure and decoration at the same time. The shopfront surface is fully covered with burnt cedar without any reflection to keep low-key and mysterious. Only when the gate is opened and the luminous onyx behind is exposed, it turns out that the interior space like a Pandora’s box.