SUSHI HARE
COMPLETED
FUNCTION: F&B, Japanese Omakase Restaurant
AREA: 125 m2
LOCATION: 14 Stanley St, 068733, SINGAPORE
Sushi Hare (すし晴) is an omakase restaurant at 14 stanley street. 晴 referring to clear skies and evokes the rays of light on a sunny day.
Diners are first met with a processionary garden path, illuminated by an intensely warm light radiating from the semicircular cut out of a Cypress wall. The rays of light are scattered by reflective rippled stainless steel, completing the circular silhouette like the sun rising over the horizon.
Turning the corner at the end of this garden path, reveals the main dining pavilion, a cypress veneer clad volume sitting adjacent to an internal ‘alleyway’. A warm glow of light filtering through natural cypress wood veneers laminated on glass creates an ambience that beckons diners into the pavilion.
Diners enter through a lowered headroom at the threshold of the house, evoking the engawa (縁側) , signifying and preparing the diners for their dining experience once they enter the space proper
This pavilion, set within the already narrow shophouse lot, forces intimacy within the 10-seater restaurant which while counterintuitive at first, makes perfect sense in an omakase restaurant where interaction between chef and diners is central to the dining experience.
The distinct scent of Japanese Cypress greets visitors as they take their seats at the 7-meter, unbroken solid Hinoki countertop, below a ceiling feature of cypress veneer-laminated glass.
Light emanates through the thin sheets of veneer, as though dining pavilion is covered by a roof so paper-thin that rays of sunlight penetrate through it, creating an inexplicable lightness for a restaurant that has 2 physical floors above it.
The yellow toned cypress tints the LED lights and bathes the dining space in a warm glow, setting the mood for the performance. Extremely narrow beamed, high-CRI track spotlights now illuminate the food and the chef’s work area, the space fades into the backdrop, and chef’s performance now takes centerstage.
Image Gallery
CREDITS
CLIENT: Sushi Hare
PHOTOGRAPHY: Lim Yu Heng