RIBAMBELLE restaurant

Nikita Kovalev

A restaurant for parents and their children located in the Bluewaters neighbourhood of Dubai

• Arquitetos de interiores

Ribambelle is a project of a very unusual format for us. It is both a restaurant where parents can spend time relaxing and a children's space with areas for children of all ages. The project is located in the Bluewaters neighbourhood in Dubai.

We aspired to create a place where parents have an opportunity to do their own things or relax, and children have a fun and age-appropriate activity. At the same time, parents and children are in sight of each other, being visually close, which creates a feeling of safety.

photo_credit Nikita Kovalev — Nikita Kovalev

This project has an atypical format: it combines a children's play space, areas for children's events, and a family restaurant. It occupies two floors. On the ground floor, we have located the main children's zones: 2 playgrounds, an arts & crafts zone, and a zone for cookery master classes. On the other side of the space, the main part of the restaurant is located. The first floor is more ‘adult’-oriented: there is a bar and transformable event halls for children's parties and events. There are also terraces on each of the floors.

The visual concept of Ribambelle is based on the idea of making a natural oasis in the glass jungle of Dubai, where there are practically no green recreational areas. Hence, here we have recreated a secluded park drenched in greenery.

The restaurant area is decorated in natural colours with live plants, vines-lights hanging from the ceiling, and mirrors that create the effect of sun rays passing through the foliage due to reflection. The living plants in the main restaurant area gradually turn into a plush fairy-tale forest in the children's area.

The main playground alludes to a childhood dream: a tree house buried in a green crown. We also can't imagine a park without birds, so the main characters of our playground are huge birds, and separate elements refer to their images - a cryptograph and a spiral staircase to the second level of the house.

This magical oasis is brought together by specially designed and programmed lighting (collaboration with the awesome Expolight) and sound effects (sounds of the forest and birds), thanks to which the fairy tale invented by us comes to life.

Ribambelle is a space where you can organise a children's party or just come in for a coffee with your child. Both adults and children will enjoy themselves here.