Brief:
The client requested a renovation project of a two-storied house within a busy alley, re-purposing the place into a Japanese cocktail bar, Yugen. The new bar was expected to have two types of seating areas: communal bar counter and sofa booths. Kitchen, BOH and VIP rooms were placed on the ground floor while the bar was positioned on the first floor.
Challenges:
Yugen is the concept of an untranslatable beauty in Japanese culture. Portraying the abstract beauty was a key challenge of the project, hence minimalism was decided to be the design approach to awaken a serene feeling and create a moment of contemplation within the lively alley, contrasting with its chaotic nature.
Design Outcome:
By relocating the stairs from its original indoor position to the front garden, the inner space of the house was united.
A major aspect of the design was creating a contemplation moment by connecting the still nature of the bar to a quiet “borrowed” scenery. Small outer gardens at both ends of the house were led into the interior space through multiple continuous window frames along the longitude of the house. Ceiling elements, bar shelves, partitions of the bar were integrated onto the window frames, creating an uninterrupted space from the outside to the inside.
Timber and rattan were purposely used in juxtaposition with metallic materials to express the appreciation for both traditional values and modernity. The bar counter and sofa booths were intended to be communal and private areas respectively, yet the light-weight natural materials deluded the division between spaces. The sofa booth area’s floor was raised and mirrors were put above the bar counter to allow better view of the bartender’s mixology.
Yugen . a Japanese cocktail bar.
Yugen design is about “borrowed scenery” - a Japanese concept of incorporating the outer surrounding into interior space through openings. The approach is to provide the guest a space to contemplate, to be withdrawn from the outer world while observing its ever changing through the circular windows.
This untranslatable aesthetic, as the meaning of the name Yugen, is form by the extension of circular windows frame throughout the interior. The frame system becomes the central design element incorporate other forms: partitions, lighting system, liquor shelving, mixing mirror and ceiling system.
The design is to create an architecture feature to represent the spirit of Yugen. Hence the circular window extend through the interior connecting to outside and become the central element to connect everything.
This minimalist approach, everything is interrelated, provide a clear identity for the place. Nothing is redundant just as the mixology concept itself. A serenity and meditative atmosphere carry an untranslatable beauty as the meaning of the name Yugen.
The wooden based material pallet, reflects the Japanese style cocktail, contrast by the modern and shiny materials (inox, glass), underlines a forward looking attitude yet based on a calm and mature spirit.
The approach of the design is to minimize any redundant element; so the interior become self-evident. We try to use basic shape, not to give any meaning to the form of the elements so the interior can be neutral and only interpreted by each guest, his or her mood of the day and company they are with.
