澳洲KOTO高級餐廳

This is a project of renovation of The Lobby building, built in fifty years ago by Japanese architect in The National Triangle, Canberra in Australia, to fine dining Japanese restaurant. This building was used as a place for the gathering between Australian politicians and journalists, where sometimes their scandals happened. As a one of projects to revitalize such an energetic place, we designed Japanese Restaurant KOTO.

The original design of the building is symmetry and very symbolic such as which footprint is square and the main entrance is on the axis of the center, seen in temples and shrines architecture. To obtain the consistency of the powerful architectural interior and exterior, we planned a sushi counter in the center, which is surrounded by various types of seats such as sofa, round tables and square tables, and the entrance, reception, small landscape and sushi counter on the axis of the center. Due to the planning, the way of welcoming guests makes a sense of ritual.

Garden view dining areas along the windows are divided by curved louvers from reception, which realize certain openness but private space at the same time. In addition, that curved louvers and sushi counter helps to relieve the tension made by luxury restaurant and gives rhythm and liveness in the space.

We kept the existing wooden panel ceiling as it is and applied consistently black-color materials on the other surface. These black materials such as glossy-finish granite, untrimmed granite, wood louvers, burnt cedar, leather tiles make the existing ceiling stand out, which is our attitude of the respect to this historical building.

We used Japanese traditional wood assembling Kumiko technique not only on wood but acrylic. Therefore, these solid and transparent wood patterns make various effects through the lighting. By combining natural untrimmed stone surface, the interior design, which the boldness and sophistication coexist in harmony, fits on the symbolic architecture.

We believe that the fifty-years architecture is revitalized by our design as a Japanese restaurant, where we can provide a place to meet and mingle with politicians and other people and make new history in next fifty years.

這是將五十年前由日本建築師在澳洲坎培拉國家三角區建造的 The Lobby 大樓，改造成高級日本餐廳的計畫。這座建築曾是澳洲政客與記者聚會的場所，見證無數交流與醜聞。如今，作為振興此歷史空間的一部分，我們設計了日本餐廳 KOTO，賦予其嶄新生命。

建築原始設計展現強烈的對稱性與象徵意義，例如其占地為正方形，主入口位於中心軸線上，這種布局常見於寺廟與神社建築。為保持建築內外的一致力量感，中心區域設置壽司吧台，四周則配置沙發、圓桌、方桌等多種座位。入口、接待處、小景觀與壽司吧均沿中心軸線排列，營造出莊重而具儀式感的迎賓動線。

沿窗的園景用餐區以弧形百葉窗與前台隔開，既保持一定的開放感，又確保私密性。彎曲的百葉窗與壽司櫃檯軟化豪華餐廳的距離感，為空間注入節奏與活力。

我們保留了原有的木板天花，並於另一表面統一採用黑色材質，如光面花崗岩、未修邊花崗岩、木百葉窗、燒焦雪松、皮革瓷磚等，使天花板更為突出，展現對這座歷史建築的尊重。

除了木材，我們亦在丙烯酸材料上運用日本傳統木工組裝技術 Kumiko。這些兼具堅實與透明質感的木紋，在燈光映照下展現豐富變化。搭配天然未修整石材表面，大膽與精緻並存的室內設計與建築本身相互呼應。

我們相信，透過這次設計，這座歷史悠久的建築將以嶄新姿態重生，成為連結政界人士與各界賓客的場所，在未來五十年續寫新的歷史。