Siji Minfu Restaurant (Maliandao)

Located in Maliandao Street, Beijing, China, the restaurant is a renovation of an old warehouse built 40 years ago. With the advantages of structured space, good ventilation, and sanitary conditions, the original building is featured with a huge four-corner cap and honeycomb roof. At the same time, the demand for improved floor efficiency of the new dining space has to be taken into consideration in the design. To preserve the precious super volume and large scale of the original building, the designer dismantled the interior space into two modules as negative space for each other, including an open area on the first floor and the F-shaped roundabout area on the second floor. Under the roundabout area, it is the closed functional space composed of duck stoves, a kitchen, and private rooms. Through the connection between the east and west stairs, the corridor makes the entire restaurant come into view. When the escalator with strong sculptural sense rises up, it acts as a functional part that constitutes the moving line, and it is also the visual focus of the space. Up to the second-floor stage above the duck stove, the 360-degree open scene puts people in the grand and open "temple", where the columns are tall and mottled, connected with new and old materials. A huge blank space has remained, thus, the experience in the restaurant reaches the best at this moment. Space starts from the open waiting area, where the huge caisson structure hanging from the ceiling opens up the warm atmosphere exclusive to Siji Minfu through red color. The sculptural upside-down module gathers the diners and popularity. The mirror surface projects the central landscape to the roof, stretching the sight vertically. Here and now, a satisfying experience better than that of an outdoor garden can be achieved. IN.X adopts the strategic catering design method to re-establish the recognition and stickiness of diners through the constantly upgraded brand image. Closely connected with the new catering, social and urban needs, Siji Minfu is moving towards and exploring the redefinition of public catering.