PSLab

Founded in 1984, Sticks’n’Sushi is one of the most successful restaurant groups in Denmark, serving high-quality, fresh food based on a unique combination of traditional sushi and yakitori sticks from the grill. The design of every restaurant is different, individually adapting to its context. Diener & Diener, a renowned architecture practice in Switzerland, has been designing the Sticks’n’Sushi restaurants since the foundation of the chain.

.PSLAB was commissioned to develop a concept for the group’s new restaurant in Covent Garden that would reflect the urban character of the location.   

The commission proved both fascinating and challenging for the .PSLAB team. With two entrances at both sides of its 44-meter length, the restaurant stretches over three existing buildings, on two floors with varying heights while having a width of only 5.5 meters.

 

.PSLAB designed a setting with an avant-garde statement that preserves a homey atmosphere for the guests.

The material selection that was set by the architects characterized the work of the .PSLAB team. The lighting installations were designed with raw materials like copper, black and powdered steel. To emphasize the existing spatial characteristics of the restaurant, like the raw brick interior walls, fabric paneled ceiling and fine woods in the furniture, .PSLAB opted for a system of spotlights throughout the space as a basic lighting tool.

Upon entrance from Henrietta Street, guests are greeted with a conscious break from the lighting grid. A chandelier that looks like an upside down bouquet of cylinders suspends from the ceiling. It hangs over a dining table holding two brass table lamps.  

On the opposite entrance from Maiden Lane, the focal point is a set of parallel steel tubes starting from the wall behind the bar and dipping a 90-degree turn downward ending with exposed bulbs above the counter. Their dynamic alignment adds rhythm to the bar and strengthens its face.

In the basement, the design over the bar on the main level was adapted inversely. The steel tubes develop from the guests’ side of the bar instead of from behind the bar, reinforcing food preparation as the highlighted focal activity in the space.