Excerpt: Saree, an interior design project by Akitephile, showcases a unique appearance with cultural elements reminiscent of a traditional Indian restaurant. The design draws inspiration from the saree, a lively symbol of Indian heritage, featuring shades of blue, yellow, and purple. This fusion of architectural details not only establishes a unique visual identity but also aligns with Feng Shui principles.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by architect] Architecture is not as complicated as we think, anything can form an architecture. Since ancient times, people have built works from branches, rocks, or anything they can find, gradually drawing out the most effective motifs: brick, stone, cement, iron, steel, concrete. cardboard…, Nowadays, with the development of technology, many new materials are created and helpful in construction. But there are still emotional ways of dealing with a time when people could build a house out of anything: bottles, seashells, whatever daily objects they can find.
SAREE is the design name of an Indian restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. The requirement is how to create a unique appearance so everybody can recognize that it is an “Indian restaurant”. From there, it is the basis of identification for diners when coming to the restaurant. The project has chosen for itself the solution of using kitchen stuff for façade decoration. The clay pots are associated with the image of Stupas with lotus shape in Hindu culture, the lids of the pots are stylized to become the breast of the goddess Apsara. Stylizing seemingly familiar images into images specific to cultures and beliefs makes building design more interesting.
Besides, like the iceberg theory in literature, when the architectural language is only stylized and simulated, not clarified, we can use our imagination to understand the architectural language in any way we can. The architectural facade can be viewed as a pantry, a typical image of a restaurant, can also be seen as the image of the Stupas or the symbol of the goddess Apsara – a typical image of an Indian building. Or understand at the same time in both meanings so that we have an “Indian restaurant” design.
Many details are also used to highlight the distinctive design language. The horizontal veins inside the Tandoor are also shown by the arrangement of decorative bricks on the facade. By combining different tile colors, randomly arranged horizontally, the image of Tandoor appears to have a distinct Indian identity. In addition, the doorbell details, Indian pattern stickers are also used to make the space more impressive.
“Architecture that harmonizes cultures”
There is a difficult thing going on in the design process that is: “cultural characteristics of the building”. When the building is used for business purposes, like many other cultures influenced by China, business establishments in Vietnam always put the Feng Shui element on top. The difficult problem of both meeting the requirements of placement as well as color according to Feng Shui, while ensuring aesthetic elements in the work. The floor and windows on both sides must be yellow according to the earth element, the wall must be blue according to the water element, the main door must be purple on the fire element. Besides, the work must also show a typical Indian color. To find a solution to this problem, the architect used the image of the brilliant Saree in blue, yellow, purple color, which contains a unique and long-standing Indian culture with vibrant colors. The result is that the architectural details blend and form a characteristic aesthetic picture that still meets the feng shui rules.
The problem does not stop there when the input information makes it even more difficult when the diners coming to the restaurant are not only Indians but also Malaysians, who are inherently Muslim. As we all know Hinduism and Islam seem to have different beliefs and this is a huge barrier for them to accept each other’s culture. If the design of a restaurant is boldly Hindu, it will make Muslim diners afraid. The architect decided to stylize and reduce these details to become more contemporary art details than to bring a bold religious color. Turning all the stylized everyday kitchen items to become decorative details of Hinduism has helped Muslims have a more sympathetic view of the restaurant when the religious element is not placed too heavily but still create a clear sign for any diners to recognize this is an “Indian restaurant”.
In addition to meeting the factors of functionality, sustainability, usability and aesthetics, architectural design work must also balance cultural factors. Sometimes these elements are mildly present, but sometimes they create huge conflicts in the design itself, typically an “Indian restaurant” in Vietnam. A restaurant must balance 3 beliefs at the same time: Feng Shui, Hinduism, Islam. The artistic stylization solution becomes an effective tool when in the stylized works the image of the building appears like an “iceberg theory”, giving each person their own sense of the work to avoid unnecessary conflicts. The task of architecture at that time was not only a machine to live in, but also a space to connect people together.
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