Project Name : WAGOKORO SYUNSAI
Location : Osaka,Japan
Designer : Yunagi Miki
Color designer:Miho Iwao
Lighting designer : ENDO LIGHTING CORP.
Logo designer : Tomoko Kuzukami
Photographer : YUNA YAGI / YUNAGI MIKI
An Interior that Resonates with the Landscape
Wagokoro Shunsai
The Shin Umeda City, a now well-established tourist destination in Osaka, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. This store rebranding project began when Wagokoro Shunsai, a restaurant operated by the Sekisui House Group within the Shin Umeda City, decided to update its facilities as part of various renovation works planned on the occasion of the complex’s milestone anniversary.
From the first moment I saw the marvelous restaurant space that makes full use of the view of the urban landscape created by architect Hiroshi Hara and landscape designer Motoo Yoshimura, I knew that I had to restructure the interior in such a way that everything serves to emphasize the one-of-a-kind scenery.
Yoshimura’s landscape design, titled Island Garden Forest, is a representation of “a planet of water and vegetation”—or, in other words, the Earth itself. The forest, which makes manifest the flow of the breeze, the circulation of water, and the energy of life, seemed to resonate with the restaurant’s mission to make known the Japanese culture of dashi [broth] to the world through awakening its customers to the essence of washoku [Japanese food], an art which places value on savoring the nutrients of nature through fresh seasonal blessings. I searched for a design that would reinforce this connection.
For the color scheme, I chose to use the three traditional Japanese colors of akane [red], hanadairo [blue], and aku-iro [yellow-gray], which here symbolize “life and gratitude”, “the Earth and Japan”, and “the ground and stability”, respectively. Elements with these colors can be found scattered throughout the interior, furniture, signage, and graphics.
In order to articulate the borrowed scenery, I took a subtractive approach to clear away existing elements while also creating new lively focal points by interspersing the universal geometric design with kirameki [sparkle] in the form of textures that can only be experienced through being in the space in person. At night, the lit interior reflected in the windows fuses with the landscape outside to produce a magical symphony of design and nature.
I hope that Wagokoro Shunsai, as the Sekisui House Group’s newly reborn flagship restaurant, will become a new landmark where visitors can rediscover the charm of the Shin Umeda City.