Ménard Dworkind embrace Chinatown kitsch for Miss Wong brasserie in Montreal
Structure agency Ménard Dworkind has created a microcosm of Chinatown at this a colossal pan-Asian restaurant and bar in Montreal’s Laval suburb.
When native designer Guillaume Ménard was approached to transform the previous Moomba mega-club right into a Chinese language beer backyard, he tapped architect David Dworkind to associate on the undertaking. The collaboration spurred the founding of their eponymous studio Ménard Dworkind.
The group sought to manifest an area engaging sufficient for buzz-seeking Laval residents, who sometimes commuted to Montreal for stylish, photogenic eating places.
Dworkind and Ménard traveled to Chinatowns in Montreal, Vancouver and San Francisco to check the neighbourhoods’ aesthetic consistencies. Neon-lit signage, folding scissor gates and hanging lanterns had been just a few of the takeaways they integrated into Miss Wong’s cinematic design.
“There was no scarcity of inspiration for this undertaking,” Dworkind informed Dezeen. “We wished to create the colourful vitality of Chinatowns world wide the place you are bombarded with signage and visible noise.”
At 930-square-metres, the huge venue supplied a variety of artistic freedom, however was additionally beset with design challenges.
“With an area this huge, our intuition was to subdivide it into smaller zones for intimate socialising,” mentioned Dworkind. “We performed with completely different stage ranges and heights for every space, creating distinctive environments.”
Pink pillar attracts focus at Hideout magnificence salon by Ménard Dworkind
Company enter Miss Wong the via a low-ceilinged passageway and a classic ornamental Chinese language arch. Rising below a mini-Chinese language pagoda on the opposite facet, they’re greeted by eight-metre-high ceilings, classic neon lightboxes and disco balls in the primary eating space.
The central area takes cues from conventional beer gardens with lengthy communal tables and concrete flooring. 4 further “zones” are tucked into multi-platformed pockets across the venue to recreate the lounge-like intimacy of an opium den.
Every of those areas within the emporium presents a particular vibe via texture and color, reminiscent of emerald carpeting within the Inexperienced Zone and the Pink Zone’s pink epoxy flooring.
“This permits friends to have a distinct eating expertise each time they go to,” mentioned Dworkind.
Moreover, Ménard Dworkind selected lighting that respectively mixed the kitsch and tradition of Chinatowns world wide. Most of the fixtures are customized made with objects bought in Montreal’s personal Chinatown, together with pendant lighting constituted of folding paper followers and the Pink Zone’s lantern-covered ceiling.
Forming an archway behind the primary bar are lanterns hanging from powder coated metal “canes”, which mimic the normal curved lanterns forged over the boats of Chinese language fishermen. “After studying that Montrealers are coming all the way in which to Laval for Miss Wong, we all know we have completed our job.”
The duo’s debut undertaking earned then a 12th Version Grand Prix Du Design award within the bars, lounges and nightclubs class.
Different initiatives by the collaborative workplace embrace a magnificence salon in Montreal, which additionally options hacked pink armchairs and IKEA sinks as foot baths.
Dworkind has additionally accomplished plenty of interiors within the Canadian metropolis previous to teaming with Ménard – together with a falafel store “impressed by a traditional New Steadiness sneaker” and a Lebanese snack bar and bakery.
Pictures by David Dworkind