Los Angeles-based PQNK recently has completed the HARANG BISTRO.

Courtesy PQNK

Courtesy PQNK

Courtesy PQNK

Courtesy PQNK

+ Design statement

Perception is everything in architecture. The way you feel and visualize something present and know that it will be everlasting is what attracts people to architecture. Our concept of Harang Bistro incites from this idea of arousing the audience with perception through color, texture, views, and contrast. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of an existing Ramada Inn, at the corner of busy Los Angeles intersection, giving pompous gesture as to say "Welcome to the city of angels!" Harang Bistro arouses one's visual perception through its' rich and flirtatious orange hue of the "curtain" wall. The "curtain" wall is born from the idea of frame and view as each dark wooden frame holds the curtains in a beautiful display inviting guests and visitors of Los Angeles. There is a contrast as the orthogonal frame holds the fluid curtains in its display, mending the difference between the hard and the soft. Also, as the void created by the frame is filled by the curtain, there is a play between the solid and the void; as it holds an attractive gesture of appeal and interest, celebrating both the restaurant and the street. Concurrently within the restaurant are also different groups of rooms, each with their own character and each within their own frame. You step into one perception from being outside to the inside, yet within the restaurant you feel another change as you step into the rooms to end your night. The overall layout of the restaurant works with scale, as there are rooms distinguished by their own different materials and characteristics; in turn defining the program. As each different style implies seating for different groups: the enclosed wooden box for smaller and more intimate guests, the wood grills with little more transparency for larger gatherings, and lastly, the open seating area around the bar and the windows for the complete public groups. Overall, Harang Bistro is celebrating perceptions of visitors as it plays with view, frame, scale, and contrast, stepping through various perceptions before you reach your final destination—dinner with your friends in a beautiful restaurant.

+ Project facts

HARANG BISTRO
VIEW WITHIN A VIEW
Client Objectives: Remodeling of existing restaurant to accommodate a fusion concept of the mix between Western and Asian style, and a bar and a restaurant.
Design Program: Asian Fusion Restaurant
Square Footage: 2,109 s.f.
Date of Occupancy: November 5th, 2010

+ All images and drawings courtesy PQNK