Wutopia Lab from Shanghai was commissioned by Aranya to renovate part of club house into a restaurant for kids. By digesting the physical properties of materials, they hope to create a place that loses material texture and spatial orientation, and to make a magical polycarbonate neverland for kids in this space of less than 1,000 square meters. This Anaya Kid's Restaurant is a very good example of turning reality into an illusion without losing its truth.

Polycarbonate panels were used to wrap the original facade that integrates prairie villa style and contemporary art deco-style, so that a new translucent facade was achieved. They put vertical greening and large staircases between the old and new façades. This hierarchical facade was regarded as a complete facade.

Wutopia Lab re-organized function and streamline. Kids can enter into the light forest on the second floor directly through the outdoor stairs. Under the soft lighting on the ceiling, the matte PVC pipe encloses a circular dining hall and two private dining rooms surrounded by polycarbonate panels. They think that in this way, the circular, diffuse lighting and white tone make you feel losing sense of texture, scale, and direction in this space.

Wutopia Lab combined carbonate polymer material with light to create an experience of losing sense of size and texture. They used lots of bubbles in the spaces, because they think kids love them even though the bubbles are colorless and transparent, fleeting and unpredictable, which add a lot of fun inside.

Wutopia Lab described that, "people can enter the ground floor under the starry sky along the grand staircase. Under the starry sky ceiling, we created a playground for kids using PVC hollow balls, glass fiber cloth, marine plastic balls, artificial stone and floor glue. With a magic mirror as the border of the game space, we try to distort the realism of the place, as if time is not passing."

Visitors can see a bubble tree, a sea sound bathroom, and a mysterious picture book area. These are the attractive corners hidden in this neverland that waits for kids to discover by themselves.

"The most important climax of the entire restaurant is the red flying house built on the roof with double perforated aluminum panels. Following the yellow trace, going through a stainless steel floor, bypassing the bubble tree, twisting toward the ridge, and you can see the light is getting brighter and brighter. This flying house could become an obvious sign of the park easily. It could also be a lighthouse, pointing out the limitations of our lives," explained by Wutopia Lab.

Axis

Elevation

First floor plan

Second floor plan

Roof plan

Project facts:

Design firm: Wutopia Lab

Chief designers: MIN Erni, YU Ting

Project architect: YU Ting

Design team: Dali PAN, Wutian SUN, Zhilin MU

Scheme design: WIN DESIGN

Construction team: Beijing Weihong Hengye Construction Engineering Co., Ltd.

Lighting Consultant: Chloe ZHANG, Chengyi QIN

Location: Aranya, Qinhuangdao, China

Project Area: 1000 sqm

Project time: May 2018

All images © CreatAR Images

> via Wutopia Lab