This project is an extension of the Japanese restaurant Golden Omakase in Shanghai, designed by atelier TUO. The extension was required to be completed within a short construction period, providing a small public space along the commercial street while adding a new entrance and private dining room for the restaurant.
Located in a district that combines commercial vibrancy with historical character, the site is long and narrow—approximately 15 meters in length and 2.1 meters in width—preserving a required fire access lane. Pedestrian flow is concentrated along one side of the site.
The design responds to two simultaneous needs: to create a public space that remains accessible during non-dining hours, and to provide a new threshold and private room for the restaurant. A new facade mediates between the intimacy of the restaurant and the openness of the street.
Balancing privacy and publicity forms the core of the design, which was conceived with rapid construction in mind. The intervention unfolds through three layers—ground, wall, and roof. The ground is divided by material changes into restaurant, transitional, and public zones, with gravel paving defining soft boundaries. A prefabricated bamboo-textured concrete wall runs through these zones, reconnecting the fragmented site into a continuous whole. Three metal roofs, each supported by its own column system, provide shelter while echoing the restaurant’s logo. The clear articulation between roof, ground, and wall defines the boundary between factory prefabrication and on-site assembly, making swift construction possible.
In the private room, the table is formed by three large Suzhou golden bricks, referencing the restaurant’s name “Golden.” The charred wood cladding is repurposed from the original restaurant facade, extending the memory of the original facade.
