CONCEPT:
For a two-fold programme of formal eating and relaxed lounging an opposition of moods was created. The result is two synthetic and strange worlds: fire and ice. Inspired by the seasonal ice buildings of Sapporo, the ground floor features cool-greys materialised in glass and metal. Tables are sharp fragments of ice: a raised floor level drifts like an iceberg across the space. Above the ice chamber whirls a furnace of fire, rendered in searing reds, brilliant yellows and exuberant oranges. A spiral above the bar tears through the ground-floor ceiling, curling up to the underside of the upper-level dome like a fiery tornado bursting through a pressure vessel. A plasma of biomorphic sofas accommodates eating and lounging and allows an infinite configuration of seating types with movable trays and plug-in sofa backs.