Project Name: Kateel Restaurant
Architects: Oorvi Designs
Area: 2307.5 sq.ft.
Year: 2020
Project Lead: Akshay Surve
Project Team: Akshay Surve, Chinmayee Kshirsagar, Ayush Tapdiya
Photographs: Ayush Tapdiya
Client: Sanjiv Ram Shetty
City: Pune
Country: India

Sanjiv Ram Shetty, an experienced restaurateur, gave us a challenge of refurbishing his place into a Garden-style Restaurant. Creating a cozy & beautiful ambience as well as creating awareness among the customers. The refurbishment needed to complete in shortest possible time, with two main criteria- reusing materials as much as possible & imbibing the feel of nature inside the place.

Kateel Restaurant is located in the Suburbs of Pune city, adjoining Pune-Bengaluru Highway. ‘Kateel’ is a name of goddess in western Karnataka, thus naming the restaurant after the holiness of goddess ‘Kateel’. The place is a Pure Vegetarian restaurant serving various cuisines but their specialty remains in South Indian Cuisine. 

The brief also mentioned open kitchen concept for better transparency & visual access. Two edges of the dining area act as a partition wall between two Restaurants. Thus a green barrier was created instead of a partition wall, which acts as an element of nature which further enhances the quality of indoor environment. 

Various creepers were planted in few earthen pots, which were hung on the ceiling, creating a lively atmosphere inside the restaurant. The greens of these creepers & brown shade of pots brought in the true essence of nature into the place.

A painting was created near the utility area, which was completely done by the local artists. The alternate patch of mosaic flooring in the dining area adds to the beauty of the restaurant.

The key motive was to rekindle the touch of nature into this place for better user experience & creating awareness among the people. Gardens are one of the best examples of the symbiotic relationship between human & nature. The intent was to instigate love for ‘Mother Earth’ and the significance of being in harmony with nature.