Supanniga Eating Room is a family-run restaurant initially started in Kornkaen, the Northeastern province of Thailand. The owner uses his grandmother’s recipes of Eastern and Northeastern Thai cuisine and entitles the restaurant after a most picturesque tree in Kornkaen, Supanniga (Cochlospermum regium) also known as Yellow Cotton Tree. Supanniga flower is a symbol of Supanniga Eating Room in an upcoming trendy area of Bangkok, Sathorn Soi 10.
Supanniga Eating Room is a renovation project. The brief is to transform an old three-story shophouse into a restaurant that fits the lifestyle of young professionals in Sathorn neighbourhood. Onion is asked to use a collection of Northeastern Thai objects, such as parts of wooden weaving machines, because they are the signatures of Supanniga Eating Room.
Onion works with the idea of traditional Thai house in Northeastern Thailand in order to create three different dining atmospheres for each storey of Supanniga Eating Room. On ground level, Onion wishes to create an atmosphere of dining under a wooden house built on piles. In the past, basement of a Thai house is where the inhabitants weave silk, socialise and relax. An ambience of homeliness is what Onion is aiming for.
At Supanniga Eating Room, joints of wooden weaving machines are redesigned with the arrangement of ropes to signify the bar on the ground floor. Yellow paint highlights the wooden joints of the custom made chairs. An image of Supanniga flower is pixelated to cover the entire wall at the entry. Reels of yellow string, orange string and metal cables are the selected materials for this pixelation.
The second floor of Supanniga Eating Room has a view of Sathorn 10 and the new skyline of Bangkok. It is a semi-outdoor space which is similar to the second floor of a Thai house. The space functions as an art gallery and high-table seatings. It connects to the kitchen and the service area.
The third floor dining room is a most interesting space. It is enveloped by the folded zinc sheets, yellow shades of indirect sunlight that change throughout the day. To the architects, the yellow light functions like a paint. It attracts the dinners to look upwards and see the wooden structures with hollow rectangular metal joints. These elements create an atmosphere of dining in an attic, homely yet modern. Supanniga Eating Room brings Northeastern Thailand’s culture to a shophouse in Bangkok.
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