Design & project coordination: shell+core
Lighting: PS LAB
Photography: Bianca Studio
The beauty and simplicity of what is seemingly imperfect constitute the soul of this dining spot in the Emirati capital. The design approach follows the Japanese concept of “wabi-sabi”: Otaku offers its visitors a suspended scenario, where the space induces meditation and contemplation of its minimalist, stark, rough charm, aware of the erosive action of time on matter.
Concrete slabs stand out in the environment, sometimes as walls and partitions from which, where they are merely juxtaposed, unexpected blades of light emerge, and sometimes as furnishing elements, for example, shaping the bar counter, the protagonist of the scene. The articulation of the space recalls the flow of the nearby promenade, translating it into fluid, free forms, ready to interact with the ever-evolving interplay of light and shadow.
Fluidity is expressed not only in the forms but also in the materials: the concrete from the walls flows and envelops the counter, extending to the floor surface. What this work represents is indeed a tribute to Tadao Ando, as declared by the designers themselves, but it is also something more: it is their acute interpretation of the Japanese master, in which exposed concrete coexists with warmer materials such as Californian walnut burl wood, which clads the stone column, gives soul to the benches, and forms a fitted wall. Also considering the use of natural light – sometimes as a further reference to the Japanese master in the slits between concrete partitions, sometimes as a diffused element filtered by a curtain of opaque and soft drapes – Otaku offers an interpretation of its environment that sees architecture as a felicitous interaction of geographically distant design cultures, yet simultaneously open to dialogue. The result is a precious cross-section of coexistence dedicated to confrontation and interaction between different design cultures.
