Intimate and Minimalist New Restaurant FUJI in the Azores

Project: FUJI Restaurant
Architects: Sequeira Dias Arquitectos
Location: Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal
Area: 792 sf
Photos: Ivo Tavares Studio

FUJI Restaurant by Sequeira Dias Arquitectos

The interior design concept was developed to create ideal conditions for a unique and high-level experience through aesthetics and modernity, while meeting program requirements.

The restaurant's concept is directly linked to the cuisine offered by the space. As a result, the interior architecture aims to be symbiotic with the gastronomic menu and its East Asian Japanese nature.

Given the limited space, the approach consisted of designing a simple and modest restaurant characterized by American oak furniture and gray walls and ceilings in anthracite color, which although contrasting in nature should speak to each other.

The dining room ceiling features a cut irregular orthogonal grid. Through rectangular openings, multiple light and shadow effects animate the restaurant. The orthogonal grid becomes more noticeable when it penetrates into the darkness of the ceiling. Some rectangles are filled with straw — a hollow network of small and intimate scale — through which vertical lighting emanates. The use of straw in ceiling panels, as well as within the wine rack and the sushi prep display, allows the space to be immersed in a note of liveliness that contrasts with the otherwise orderly design.

Although an abundance of wood seems reminiscent of tree lines and dense forests that adorned the Azores islands since the 19th century, the gray color of the walls easily transports us into the mist and darkness often covering Azorean landscapes.

Entering the FUJI Restaurant, we will be immersed in an imagined landscape where the exoticism of the East intertwines with that of the Azores. Where architectural modesty meets gastronomic abundance.

-Project description and images provided by Ivo Tavares Studio