Originally, I was looking into Japanese design with an emphasis on how sushi is made. After doing some more thorough research, I ran across an art form called Feng Shui (pronounced Fung Shway for us Westerners). I decided to study this form of art further, and eventually used it as a set of guide lines and inspiration for the model.
Feng Shui has existed for at least 3,500 years. It originated from the Chinese view of the universe, more specifically the Earth along with its mountains, valleys, and waterways. In short, Feng Shui is the ancient art of situating the environment to produce harmonious balance. This harmony comes from balancing the five basic elements (earth, fire, metal, water, and wood) along with the theory of Yin (dark) and Yang (light) energies.
I ran with the idea of balancing elements in order to come up with an original design. After a few hours of taking in the landscape and surrounding area on site, I realized that two elements would be a bit short in supply. Fire would be used in the kitchen area and as a light source, metal was found to the north with the historic Pacific Railway, and wood was found in the old structures as well as the garden that was to be placed next to the restaurant. So that left me with water and earth.
The earth notion was fairly easy enough. In the design, the south elevation (the one that isn't made up of that funky looking white material) was made to be sturdy and whole. The wall is the thickest (at two feet) and the material used would be a rugged looking stone (much like concrete) to make up for the lack of earth.
The water part was a bit more difficult. Yes, there is a pond to the east of the building, but using "actual" water to prove my statement seemed a bit tacky. But the pond is there for a reason, and we'll get to that. To design something that metaphorically said "water", I looked at how water moved, what attributes it had, and how best to show that in building material. For starters, water can move in any way it pleases. It is free-flowing. And although we may not realize it all the time, water can be very gentle and also destructive. Strength of course played off of this. The last bit was the transparency of water. Now, the first idea was to use very thick glass. Again, just like the pond, a tacky idea. So I did a little more research into transparent material and came up with transparent concrete (yes, it exists...google it). You can't see right through the concrete, but you can definitely see light and shadow behind the wall. Very cool. As for the pond. It was placed there to reflect off of the building. I realize that if the building was made up of reflective glass, the water would actually show up on the building even better. Still, it serves its purpose well enough.
So, now that I've covered how the building was designed, let's look at the interior spaces. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the interior, but that's what the drawings are for. Walking into the restaurant, you come to a large opening. To your left, the ordering line awaits you. This isn't your traditional sit down and eat sushi place. Rather, it's more like a McDonald's where you walk in, order your food, and go wherever you please. It seems to me that we need a sushi place like that. The entire south portion is for the kitchen, but the space isn't enclosed as most restaurants are. The idea behind that is allowing both customer and worker to feel connected instead of separated. The restrooms are to the west, directly north of the boss's office. We weren't told to design a second story, but just like the other three projects in this course, I wanted to be set apart from the other students. The inside of the second story is the art gallery, while outside is a nice little space to dine while overseeing C-Street.
Before we finish, please note that this building does NOT follow all of the rules and regulations of Feng Shui. Practitioners would have a hay day bashing the design if they thought it was supposed to be a Feng Shui design. I merely used some of the principles and ideas to come up with a balanced structure.
