Ginza Hassen

Ginza Hassen conveys the richness of Hachinohe, Aomori, Japan, through its food.

The space is designed with the hope that guests will experience the richness of Hachinohe as part of the dining experience with a limited seating capacity of eight.

The main axis of the design is made of green glazed pottery Hachinohe-yaki, the curtain and chair upholstery are made of Nanbu SAKIORI, and the tabletop is made of Aomori cypress.

In the existing building, there was a large smoke exhaust window on the wall, and it was a major design obstacle in the limited space. The design had to make use of this legally mandated window. The Japanese restaurant required a large capacity hood, but there was no exhaust route into the building, and the basement location left the ducts exposed to the seating area.

As a solution to the smoke exhaust window, we designed a sliding louver door made of a series of Hachinohe yaki pottery plates at random angles.

The resulting sliding door, while functioning as an emergency smoke vent, became the main design symbolizing the restaurant.

The ventilation hood was ducted through the ceiling and walls using a special method not normally used, and reached the ground floor via an interior staircase.