Our project in Long Beach, California is a small restaurant on a busy street. The client wanted to open a second restaurant close to their existing location--right next door. For this project, we took inspiration from the client’s desire to bring a contemporary interpretation of Korean cuisine to an area that largely lacked such representation. The restaurant's name--Haewah Dal--translates as Sun and Moon. This phrase is a reference to the Irworobongdo, a screen depicting five peaks, the sun, and moon.

This screen can be considered metonymic of the Korean land and culture, as it sat behind the king's throne during Korea's Joseon Dynasty. As designers, we sought to reference this screen by constructing a cascading series of arched spaces. Viewed from the street, one gets the sense of a far deeper space, as the arched volumes shift off the building's central axis.

The interior is painted in a consistent peach hue, making a monolithic continuity between floor, wall, and arch. Lighting plays a critical part in the conception of the space, given the limited natural light that the interior receives. We designed and custom-fabricated a grid of moon-like pendants to organize and illuminate the curving ceiling plane. The space is also lit from a neon tube that runs along the space's longest wall.

Material Used:

1. Dal-Tile - Tile - Matte Arctic White

2. Blu Dot - Furniture - Between Us Collection

3. Hem - Furniture - Hide Collection

4. Rich Brilliant Willing - Lighting - Crisp Collection

5. Plasticiet - Upcycled Sheet Materials - Nova Collection