Ukiyoe Restaurant

This project is located in Chiayi City, Taiwan, and is a Japanese conveyor belt sushi restaurant. The design inspiration comes from the fusion of local culture and Japanese catering spirit. We retain the original Japanese architectural vocabulary and use "local, sustainable, and eco-friendly" as the core design principles to create a dining space with both cultural depth and contemporary feel.

The spatial concept is based on the Alishan forestry settlement, borrowing local natural and cultural elements, such as log texture, mountain imagery, and bamboo structure vocabulary, to transform the forest memory of Alishan into spatial language. At the same time, it integrates the spirit of Japanese craftsmen and food culture, and creates a quiet and balanced sensory experience through simple and neat lines, blank space, and light and shadow rhythm.

The overall design not only focuses on the presentation of beauty and atmosphere, but also emphasizes the thinking of symbiosis with the environment, using sustainable materials and low-energy construction methods, hoping to create a dining space that is both rich in cultural heritage and contemporary spirit.

The primary focus of this project was the revitalization of an abandoned building and the creation of a culturally immersive dining space. Our goal was to preserve the historical memory of the original Japanese-era architecture while infusing it with modern functionality and a brand-aligned aesthetic. By retaining the building’s main structure and reinforcing it with steel supports, we transformed a deteriorated space into a sustainable and safe sushi restaurant with rich cultural depth.

The design centers around the concepts of local identity, sustainability, and eco-friendliness. The exterior incorporates wood-grain aluminum louvers to abstractly represent the iconic Alishan mountain range, while the interior draws from traditional Japanese art, including Ukiyo-e motifs, to express the essence of Japanese culinary culture. To enhance interaction and user experience, a double-track conveyor system brings chefs closer to guests, while semi-transparent partitions and natural materials foster a warm and open dining atmosphere. This project represents a balanced integration of culture, history, and technical innovation, and a tangible response to local and sustainable values.

Because of winning this award, I will be better able to use my own knowledge to come back to social, and pass my experience on people who endeavor in the field of design.

When designing the Ukiyo-e restaurant, we hoped to showcase the local style of Taiwan and the traditional aesthetics of Japan in the architecture. We conducted a meaningful cross-cultural dialogue and incorporated the outline of Alishan into the design to allow customers to enjoy their meal. You can feel the natural atmosphere of Chiayi and experience the essence of Japanese catering culture. This architectural dialogue is inspired by our respect for local culture and our deep understanding of the restaurant’s brand concept.The design of the wooden shutters is inspired by the famous Alishan landscape in Taiwan. The outline of the mountain is outlined through the aluminum alloy shutters, which not only creates a fusion of nature and architecture, but also symbolizes the deep cultural foundation of Alishan. This element is used in the design It combines Japan's "shade aesthetics", that is, using translucency and shelter to create a restrained aesthetic, forming a natural transition between the inside and outside of the space, and retaining the design philosophy of "simple handling of complexity" in traditional Japanese architecture.In addition, Ukiyo-e wallpapers are used internally to express the history and essence of Japanese cuisine with the bustling scenes of the Edo period, extending a space rich in story-telling. This cultural blend is reflected in every detail of the space, from From the selection of materials to the design language, guests can not only feel the local scenery of Chiayi, but also experience the cultural background of Japanese cuisine. This cross-cultural dialogue not only enriches the space, but also allows our creation to more truly reflect the core spirit of the brand.

When converting this abandoned Japanese colonial building into a Ukiyo-e restaurant, the need to preserve the original structure profoundly influenced our design decisions and material selections. Our primary goal was to maintain the building's historic appearance while ensuring modern functionality and structure. Safety, in order to achieve this, we took special structural strengthening measures during the renovation process and selected materials with traditional beauty and strength.During the design process, retaining and strengthening the original architectural features became a challenge. We chose H-shaped steel to support and strengthen the main structure of the building to ensure that its load-bearing capacity was increased without destroying the original style. In addition, iron fixings are used in some beams and columns, which not only increases stability, but also reflects the simple craftsmanship common in Japanese architecture. The selection of these materials not only conforms to Japanese simple aesthetics, but also extends the service life of the building, in line with Our sustainable design philosophy.In terms of materials, we use unprocessed cypress wood as the main element of the interior design to highlight the natural simplicity of Japanese architecture and reduce the burden on the environment. By using materials with local culture and a sense of nature, we are able to respect the history of the building. , while breathing new life into it. These design choices allowed us to create a dining space with cultural depth and modern aesthetics while preserving the character of the old building.

When designing Ukiyoe Restaurant, we hope to create a space that is not just a traditional dining space, but a place that can enhance diners’ experience and interaction. The traditional single-track conveyor belt sushi design is indeed a classic, but we hope to break this limitation through a double-track system , making the restaurant not just a reproduction of traditional conveyor belt sushi, but a more vibrant place that is closer to diners.The double-track design is inspired by the core concept of the restaurant: using simple design techniques to meet diverse needs. Under this design, the chef can more conveniently deliver sushi directly to each guest, creating a zero-distance contact with the guests. experience. This not only shortens the physical distance between chefs and diners, but also allows guests to feel the human touch in Japanese catering culture. In addition, the dual-track design also provides a more flexible delivery method for different types of ingredients and dishes, making the presentation of dishes smoother and the overall dining experience richer and more diverse.Therefore, the dual-track system is not only a breakthrough in spatial mobility, but also a strengthening of the emotional connection between diners and chefs. We hope that this interactive model can bring different dining memories to diners, while also bringing a novel and in-depth experience to traditional conveyor belt sushi restaurants.