Wutopia Lab was commissioned by Aranya to renovate part of the clubhouse into a restaurant for kids. Their hope was to create a Neverland for kids in this space of less than 1,000 square meters.
By digesting the physical properties of materials, they aim to create a place that loses material texture and spatial orientation. The carbonate polymer material used in the “One person’s gallery” case was used in combination with light to create an experience of losing a sense of size and texture. Bubbles, colorless and transparent, will refract the rainbow and are fleeting and unpredictable, but kids love them. The kid’s restaurant should be a polycarbonate neverland.
photography by © CreatAR Images
Polycarbonate panels were used to wrap the original facade, a mixture of prairie villa style and contemporary art deco-style, creating a new translucent facade. Vertical greening and large staircases were put between the old and new façades. This hierarchical facade was regarded as a complete facade.
They re-organized function and streamline. Directly from the outdoor stairs, first stepping into the light forest on the second floor. Under the soft lighting of the light ceiling, the matte PVC pipe encloses a circular dining hall and two private dining room surrounded by polycarbonate panels. Circular, diffuse lighting, white tones make you lose a sense of texture, scale, and direction to this space.
You can enter the ground floor under the starry skies along the grand staircase. Under the starry sky ceiling, A playground for kids was created using PVC hollow balls, glass fiber cloth, marine plastic balls, artificial stone, and floor glue. With a magic mirror as the border of the game space, the realism of the place is distorted, as if time is not passing.
At the edge of the main space, there is a pink memory bathroom, a sea sound bathroom, a mirror pool, a stainless steel slide, a trampoline, a bubble tree, and a mysterious picture book area. They are the corners hidden in this neverland that waiting for kids to discover for themselves.
photography by © CreatAR Images
The most important climax of the entire restaurant is the red flying house built on the roof with double perforated aluminum panels. Following the yellow trace, going through a stainless steel floor, bypassing the bubble tree, twisting toward the ridge, and you can see the light is getting brighter and brighter. This flying house could become an obvious sign of the park easily. It could also be a lighthouse, pointing out the limitations of our lives.
Wutopia Lab uses a rich imagination and exaggerated artistic techniques to perform “special performances” on daily life, turning everyday life into a “magic realism” and creating a daily miracle that can reveal the truth of real life. They hope that design can turn reality into an illusion without losing its truth. The Anaya Kid’s Restaurant is the best example of this design philosophy.
photography by © CreatAR Images
Project Info:
Architects: Wutopia Lab
Location: Aranya, Qinhuangdao, China
Area: 1000 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: CreatAR Images
Project Name: Aranya Kid’s restaurant
