Interiors of London’s Paradise restaurant nods to Sri Lanka’s brutalist buildings

Cement, concrete and black metal merge to type the Brutalist-inspired interiors of this Sri Lankan restaurant in Soho, London, which Dan Preston Studio has dotted with tropical particulars.

Paradise – which previously housed one other eatery – is positioned on Soho’s busy Rupert Road and measures simply 51-square-metres.

Designer Dan Preston was requested by the restaurant’s house owners to refurbish the area and create an inside that recollects the city bistros seen within the Sri Lankan cities of Colombo and Galle, and their dusk-til-dawn meals tradition.

Preston’s eponymous design studio seemed to the brutalist structure of Colombo for inspiration and the work of modernist Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, as effectively imagery of the nation’s luscious rainforests.

“Bawa’s structure, though in materials distinction to its environment, seamlessly embraced its atmosphere,” Preston informed Dezeen.

“Soho does not have a lot tropical forest for environment, however we thought a reference to the outside, a delicate, softer backyard expertise was essential to include inside the design,” he continued.

“The usage of handcrafted tiles, uncovered brickwork added to this concept.”

Partitions all through the restaurant are completed with micro cement and the ground is lined with black tiles. The ceiling has been coated with a limewash-style paint and fitted with a sequence of Iroko-wood beams, mimicking the roofs of Bawa’s buildings.

In line with the city theme, the furnishings and fittings are created from brushed or black-coloured stainless-steel and completed with a bespoke patina developed within the studio’s workshop.

The restaurant is illuminated by rows of spotlights that run throughout the beams, in addition to cone-shaped pendant lights that grasp over-the-counter.

As diners enter the area they arrive at a brushed stainless-steel bar positioned on the left.

Three black-steel tables and concrete seating cubicles with brown leather-based cushions line the wall on the appropriate, whereas tall, black stools wrap across the bar counter and the big, steel-framed window that appears out onto the road.

A extra intimate desk is positioned in a barely raised comfortable in the back of the restaurant. Its partitions are partially clad with terracotta tiles crafted by Stoke-on-Trent-based studio Reiko Kaneko, every imprinted with a leaf motif.

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The tiles, which have been positioned alongside an exposed-brick wall, lend the comfortable a hotter look in distinction to the gray cement used throughout the remainder of the restaurant.

A group of potted vegetation additionally run alongside the again of the comfortable and dangle down from its ceiling.

In response to Preston, one of the crucial difficult points of the mission was becoming every thing into the restaurant’s small flooring space.

“Our temporary was to attain 32 covers and we managed to attain 34,” he mentioned.

“The choice to make use of banquette seating was actually a breakthrough second as this started to unlock the area, and we created a really crucial 40 millimetres which was crucial for the design structure to work – it actually was that tight on area!”

Dan Preston Studio relies in east London and works throughout interiors, furnishings and product design.

Its Paradise mission provides to the abundance of design-focused eateries that populate Soho – others embrace Soiled Bones, which channels the glamour of Studio 54, and Lina Shops, which boasts pastel-striped surfaces.