Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina by Pang Ka I

Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina by Pang Ka I is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award Keleawe in Hoʻolālā Loko Hale a me Hōʻike Competition Category.

KeleaweLoko Hale· 2026

Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina

by Pang Ka I

Client: Decologics Stuido

A' Design Award Keleawe Winner in Loko Hale Category

6,694

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #177234

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina

He hoʻolālā loko hale ʻaina ʻo Saikai Izakaya ma Lisbon, Pokukala. Ua māhele ʻia ka wahi liʻiliʻi o 263.57 mika ʻāpana i 23 mau hiʻohiʻona pili i hoʻoulu ʻia e kekahi kauhale lawaiʻa Kepanī. Komo nā malihini ma o kahi alo mākeke i uhi ʻia i ka mauʻu maloʻo a hele aku ma kahi pā inu, nā lānai lāʻau no ka pāʻina ʻana, kahi wahi pāʻina waʻa lawaiʻa piha, a me kahi alapiʻi kukui pālua ke kiʻekiʻe. Hoʻokumu nā ʻāpana modular, nā paia sila palupalu, ka lāʻau waʻa kahiko a me ka papahele sima i hoʻokala ʻia i ke kope i nā ʻano ʻili kahiko me ke kumukūʻai haʻahaʻa. Alakaʻi ka hoʻonohonoho modular i ka hele ʻana a mālama i ka hale hoʻoilina.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Keleawe

Ua lanakila ka hoʻolālā Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina i ka A' Design Award Keleawe, he ʻike hoʻohanohano nui loa i hāʻawi ʻia i nā hoʻolālā kūʻokoʻa i ʻike ʻia ma o ka hana noʻeau, ka akamai a me ka makakoho. He mau hana mākaukau a hana noʻeau kupaianaha nā lanakila Keleawe e hōʻoia ana i ka ʻike nui, ka noʻonoʻo a me ka maʻalea o kā lākou poʻe hoʻolālā. Manaʻo ʻia ʻo ka hoʻolālā Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina he mea i mahalo nui ʻia, hoʻohiwahiwa ʻia a aloha ʻia, he ʻoihana a hou loa. ʻO kēia hoʻolālā i lanakila i ka A' Design Award Keleawe e hoʻohui ana i nā hana maikaʻi loa o ka hana noʻeau, ka ʻepekema, ka hoʻolālā a me ka ʻenehana, a maikaʻi no kona nānā ʻana i nā kikoʻī. Hoʻokō maikaʻi ka hoʻolālā Saikai Izakaya Hoʻolālā Loko Hale ʻAina i nā pono, hoʻopā i ka makemake, hoʻohiwahiwa i nā manaʻo a huki i ka makemake e ʻike.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Saikai lzakaya transforms a compact restaurant on Lisbon's busiest food street into a cinematic "time-travel" journey of 23 immersive scenes. Using modular sets, soft ceramic walls, fire-treated straw, and a life-size fishing boat, the design optimizes space, creates storytelling flow, and balances immersive experience with sustainability on a limited budget.
Dimensions & Packaging: Area: 263.57 square meters. The project integrates modular displays, a double-height lantern stairwell, market-style facade with straw and tiles, bar counter, flexible dining trellises, and a 1:1 scale fishing boat dining zone. Designed for immersive storytelling flow, the technical properties emphasize modularity, sustainability, and heritage compliance.
Tags: Saikai Izakaya, Immersive Dining, Cinematic Design, Japanese Fishing Village, Soft Ceramic, Modular Furniture, Sustainable Restaurant, Lisbon, Time-Travel Experience, Spatial Storytelling
Production Technology: The project employed modular construction, soft ceramic faux walls, straw facades, antique boat wood, and coffee-stained cement flooring. Budget limits required reconfigurable props, detachable furniture, and low-cost aging techniques, achieving authentic textures while ensuring safety, sustainability, and immersive effect within a heritage-protected building.
Design Challenge: The main challenges were tight budget fifty-five thousand euros, heritage facade restrictions, and limited material supply. To overcome this, the team developed modular, reconfigurable sets, used soft ceramic and coffee-stained cement for low-cost authentic aging, and created slim facade lightboxes. These solutions balanced historical context, technical constraints, and immersive design goals.
Research: This project explores how narrative-driven design can transform the limitations of a small restaurant into an immersive cultural journey. With a budget of fifty-five thousand euros, the team created 23 cinematic scenes using modular sets and sustainable materials. Research confirms that spatial storytelling enhances customer engagement, strengthens brand identity, and delivers measurable cultural and commercial value.
Inspiration: Inspired by an imagined Japanese fishing village where a samurai and geisha meet and reunite, the design translates this cinematic narrative into space. Drawing from Eastern philosophy on the fleeting nature of time, it invites diners to briefly escape daily life and become participants in a living story, turning a meal into an unforgettable journey.
Project Duration: The project started in February 2024 and finished in April, 2025 in Portugal.
Operation Flow: Guests enter through a straw-clad market facade and move seamlessly through eight immersive scenes: market foyer, bar, dining trellises, boat dining, and lantern tunnel. Each step reveals a new story chapter. Modular sets guide circulation, allowing diners to interact with the space, engage with narrative elements, and experience dining as participatory storytelling.
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Huijie Zhao, Saikai Izakaya, 2025.
Image #2: Photographer Huijie Zhao, Saikai Izakaya, 2025.
Image #3: Photographer Huijie Zhao, Saikai Izakaya, 2025.
Image #4: Photographer Huijie Zhao, Saikai Izakaya, 2025.
Image #5: Photographer Huijie Zhao, Saikai Izakaya, 2025.