YUNOMI

Los Angeles, California

Type	Temaki Bar
Size	1,500 SF
Status	Built
Awards	AIA\|LA Restaurant Design Awards

To reflect the chef’s extensive study of traditional Japanese Washoku style hospitality and Omakase (chef’s choice style service), our design sets-out to create a space where the past meets the present. Thus, our design is inspired by the older structures of a Japanese Village but with a minimalistic approach, that create artistic interventions which places the project back in context with its Art’s District Neighborhood and Era.

To create a traditional yet contemporary dining experience, we reference the past through the use of materials that are full of character and tradition such as Kawara (Japanese Roofing Tiles), Hinoki (Japanese Cypress) Reclaimed Wood, and a Worn Plaster Wall Finish. We bring these old world elements to our epoch by using them unexpectedly in our Roof Tiled Walls, Curbed Bar, Metal Soffit, and a Pass-through Window.

The Temaki Bar encompasses the entire space, becoming the center focus.

Kawara – Japanese Roofing Tiles

The use of the stacked roof tiles on the interior walls create the sense of a Japanese Village.

Service Window

Inspired by the topography of a Rice Terraced Field, the pass-through window was digitally fabricated to create a piece of functional art that pays homage to the neighborhood.

Soffit

The Dark Bronze Metal structure is suspended using reclaimed Hinoki (a Japanese Cypress) with its contemporary gentle curb and continuous LED strip, the Soffit juxtaposes the traditional materials.

The overhead light, the soft edges of the bar, and the warm color palette make for a comfortable seating area, resulting in a calm and unostentatious environment that is full of Japanese elements and tradition.

The tiled wall is gently interrupted by a wooden frame, displaying over-head decor and housing the unisex bathroom installations. The concrete curving walls enclose the semi-private bathroom amenities.