Le Petit chateau is a small bistro located in 96 Square shopping mall in Shanghai. Its name means '' the little castle'' in French. Our client business mainly sells wine, so the first inspiration was to bring back the feeling when customers visit a wine cellar beneath a castle. For this project, different inner shapes of 'barrels' were connected to create a unique cave feeling. Once the visitors step into this venue, they can feel inside an enormous barrel with various figures and directions. The 'barrel' structure, composed of curved pinewood slabs, hangs into the space, forming the ceiling and walls. Designers set up 17 different curve wooden structures in the entire area, and each one is made of five compressed laminated pieces of wood with gaps between them. Nine hundred-meter-long pinewood strips inserted into gaps create this huge internal wooden 'barrel'.
A simplified methodology was used to install the stripes easily. It can be easily mounted or dismounted to be re-used and adjusted according to the need. The pattern and rhythm were developed on-site with the client's staff, client, workers and designers. It was bringing a friendly teamwork atmosphere before the restaurant opened.