‘Jack and the giant hotel’ competition launched to Themed restaurant design challenge by UNI.xyz
Food and ambiance
While walking down the streets, we are overwhelmed by the aromas emanating from the gastronomic establishments we pass through. Be it the cafes, lounges, or restaurants, we can see people celebrating, and enjoying social activities.
The restaurant industry has evolved into one of the most important industries in urban landscapes. Globalization and urbanization have been the forces that have led to its popularity. Restaurants have always been more than a place that serves food and drinks, they were social centers of cities.
Restaurants, in the contemporary era, have far more reaching effects than their social features. This industry is capable of shaping the city, its culture, and the overall economy. Vibrant city streets with restaurants make good neighborhoods.
Today, these forms of restaurants have been experimenting with the foods and ambiances of their joints, creating innumerable possibilities for an immersive dining experience. Technology has enabled us to customize the user experience, bringing theme-based establishments into the market.
‘Larger than life ’
‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ is a well-known fairytale, originated in Britain. It is a story of Jack, and how he discovers the land of a ‘Giant’ in the sky, that is reached by stalks from magic beans. As Jack moves through the giant’s world, we see how he sees and experiences things in a new manner.
Giants are common ‘otherworldly’ creatures of British folklore, believed to be human ancestors. Although a myth, it is exciting to envision how the world, our cities, would look like if we existed with the Giants. This idea is similar to the concept of the worm’s eye view.
When we view things with our eye level on the ground (like a worm), we see the world from a three-point perspective. Every object looks mighty and structures look endless. With the change in scale, our understanding of elements will change as we start viewing them from the bottom up. Our way of perceiving and experiencing the world and its elements will transform drastically.
Can you imagine a scenario where Jack climbs to the top of the giant beanstalk and finds a restaurant there, what would it look like to him?
Brief of the Competition
Brief: The challenge is to design a ‘Giant’ restaurant, based on the story of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, where everything is gigantic, compared to the human scale.
This challenge is a play on perception. Using the right tools, the scale of elements can be altered with a skew vision and the image they create. The idea is for visitors to experience navigation and eating in a colossal environment, where all sense of privacy and security may feel lost.
One of the major aspects of creative projects comes with the usage of space. Taking that as the focal point and distorting it, we can create a space where the size is disproportionate to the living elements of the place.
With this theme, challenges of breaking normal anthropometry of the space would come up. These projects require an open mind that would handle structural anomalies with feasible solutions, without changing the initial idea. Taking one of those possibilities onto butcher boards, we will be able to analyze the dos and don’ts for the project, without limiting the creative aspects.
Design Objectives
- Ideation — Conceive a thematic idea of the restaurant based on the location and physical boundaries.
- Story linkages — Deploy these into architectural design and spaces that help convey parts of the story or pair references.
- Ambiance — The material, color, lighting, and other elements can be used to reinforce the theme of gigantism. A balance must be achieved even though the scale and proportion are askew.
- Access — Since the theme plays with the scale of the space, ease of human access must be made with less compromise on the design.
Site
San Francisco is a metropolitan that is known to have a rich cultural and commercial landscape. It is a popular tourist destination owing to natural terrains, cool weather, and landmark sites. The city is known for its innovation, and this is particularly seen in the restaurant industry.
The city has a fine collection of food markets with local produce that makes it a haven for food lovers. It has more than 3,500 eateries that offer a range of experiences from fine dining to farm-to-table restaurants, but the city also has its fair share of unique themed restaurants.
The site is located in the Mission District, beside the San Francisco Buddhists center. The area is a popular hangout spot among locals during the weekend. The neighborhood has a mixed vibe from old-timey bars to live-music clubs, offering a wide range of food courses.
- Site area — 2013 sqm
- Maximum floor space permitted — 2000sqm.
- Minimum floor space required — 1000sqm.
- Ground coverage — 30%
- Height restrictions — 15m
- Setbacks (as per CAD plan)
- Coordinates — 37°45'20.4"N 122°25'09.0"
Area Programme
The restaurant must have enough space to seat 60 people, the reception, kitchen, and restrooms. Other creative additions to the project can be made within the space constraints.
Originally published at https://uni.xyz.
