Rice & Nori Restaurant Opens
We are pleased to announce that our latest restaurant, Rice & Nori, is now open in South Pasadena. This project features some clever spacemaking elements, an efficient and compact floor plan, and an elegant and sophisticated, yet simple, materials palette.
The space is part of the larger and recently renovated Fair Oaks Plaza, previously the Citizens Bank building. The existing space features a concrete-block and drywall shell, an open- framed upper ceiling (with skylights) and a lower dropped ceiling.
This was one of our first completed projects that utilized our real-time rendering software Enscape; a seamless Revit plug-in that allows colored renderings, walk-throughs, and virtual three-dimensional experiences, all driven by Revit content. We’re quite pleased with the success of Enscape’s capability to capture the real, built environment.
Basic Concept
It was quickly decided to place the kitchen(s) in the ‘command position’ facing both existing entrances, and utilizing the two interior walls for kitchen, prep, warewashing, restrooms, and other services. A relatively low (8’-6”) pair of split-level floating canopies (stained-wood above and painted drywall below) are positioned over the line kitchen and the raised bar seating, creating an interstitial unifying level between the high skylight bay to the east and the dropped roof (still at 12’ tall!!) over the dining area. These ceilings introduce a human scale, while providing contrast (and ‘framing’) the high roofs above.
Adjacent to both entrances are recessed display niches, in stained wood, caried up to both roof heights; these provide a warm contrast to the relatively cold concrete block opposing interior walls, and an opportunity for social-media posts.
