ZEN SUSHI Restaurant. Roma, Italy
The suggestion of the Kyoto temples in a restaurant in Rome
The project for a Japanese restaurant in Rome is inspired by the walkways in the forest bordered by the succession of blacks and glossy orange-red wooden portals, which lead to the temples of Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, of which reproduces colors and suggestions.
Zen Sushi was the first Japanese restaurant to bring in Italy the Kaiten, the particular conveyor belt to serve freshly prepared sushi on colored saucers indicating prices. On the tenth anniversary of the restaurant in Rome the property wanted to give a new look keeping the kaiten sushi bar with 30 seats together with tables for 60 seats.
The design challenge was to create a space with a truly Japanese essence in a contemporary way recreating the suggestion of colors and materials of the temples of Kyoto.
Dividers and walls formed by the close succession of hundreds of vertical elements of black wood lacquered from one meter up of glossy red-orange drive and mark the going throw, while red orange reflecting suspended ceilings identify the different areas of the hall, the sushi bar and the table rooms. Two rich black polished marble walls are the backdrop to the entrance area and the room with tables, where the marble wall continues along the staircase leading to the bathrooms downstairs, reflected on the opposite mirror walls that multiply the perspect of the space. And the same marble with a brushed finish as worn by time are used for the reception desks and sushibar as massive quarry blocks resting on the floor. Black floors and ceilings make the space container completely dark and neutral leaving out only the red orange surfaces like fiery, revealing multiple scenes inside a sensual environment where you can not perceive the wrapper. A rice paper backlit wall underlines the central focus of the restaurant, the Kaiten and the open workstation of the sushi master.
