Golden A' Design Award Winner 2025
Within the distinguished tradition of contemporary hospitality design that synthesizes Eastern spatial philosophies with modern material innovation, Aka Teppanyaki Restaurant emerges as a compelling meditation on the intersection of ceremony, materiality, and atmospheric experience, demonstrating the sophisticated design sensibility characteristic of the most accomplished interior environments of the early twenty-first century, the work engages deeply with Japanese architectural principles including the modulation of light through translucent screening, the celebration of natural materials in their honest expression, and the creation of threshold moments that prepare visitors psychologically for the ritualized experience of teppanyaki dining, compositionally the space achieves remarkable equilibrium through its central timber column which functions simultaneously as structural necessity and symbolic axis mundi around which the dining experience orbits, the ceiling installation represents a particularly notable achievement in its transformation of functional acoustic and visual screening into sculptural presence, the descending terracotta cylinders evoking associations with bamboo forests, traditional wind chimes, or the vertical elements of historic temple architecture while their clustered arrangement creates visual rhythm and depth that activates the upper register of the space, the chromatic decisions demonstrate nuanced understanding of how color temperature shapes emotional response, with the warm earth tones and rich burgundy accents establishing a sense of enveloping comfort against the cooler gray base palette, the pendant fixtures deserve particular attention as objects that bridge decorative and functional roles while introducing organic biomorphic geometry into the predominantly rectilinear architecture, their delicate petal-like forms suggesting natural growth patterns and providing visual softness, the seating arrangement reveals thoughtful consideration of the dining experience at multiple scales from intimate conversation to larger group gathering, the curved banquettes creating protected alcoves within the larger volume, visitors may find themselves contemplating how the interplay of transparency and opacity, natural and manufactured, vertical and horizontal creates a space that honors tradition while embracing contemporary design innovation, inviting sustained observation of the careful relationships between all elements.
Aka Teppanyaki is a modern Japanese and Asian cuisine restaurant located in one of the most unique bays of the Mediterranean. It has an impressive atmosphere, focuses on offering an unforgettable dining experience to guests. Sliding translucent doors, called fusuma in Japanese architecture, dress some of Aka's facades as backlit lattice style wall coverings and pendant lights, inspired by the fans used by Japanese women, illuminate the dining tables. The 3D ceiling system takes its color from the flames coming from hotplate.