Design firm Catanian recently completed the Tingzhen Beef Rice Noodles, a small restaurant situated in Wangjing Soho, Beijin, China. The client wanted to transmit the unique flavor of a bowl of beef rice noodles he remembers since his childhood, and wanted to commemorate his late grandmother. Deeply touched by the client’s story, the designers conceived an unforgettable dining experience.

When approaching the project, Catanian’s aim was to restore the oriental ‘literati spirit’. Excluding the kitchen, the restaurant’s functional space occupied less than 50 square meters. So it became a challenge to create fantastic spatial effects while evoking deep feelings in such a limited space. The client’s love of his grandmother and fortunate inheritance of her recipe inspired the centerpiece of the crystallized bowl of rice noodles.
The dramatic sculpture illuminates the space and cascades over the guests during dinner. The light and ephemeral structure creates spatial effects in the restaurant, taking up most of the ceiling. The designer’s abstract sculpture appears to shine against the dark background surfaces, appearing to flow out of the restaurant’s center.

The entire space is endowed with a chinese-style implicit aesthetic. Though the interior is implicit, it’s powerful enough to inspire and evoke expectations. As for spatial forms and rhythms, the designer abandoned conventional design...