Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, BArch, Architecture

Design Built Award of Merit from AIA Orlando Florida, Award

In Morimoto ASIA, Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s new restaurant, the architects transformed a former industrial shed into a 525-seat restaurant on an $18 million budget. The design is inspired by motifs of Japanese art and the original building’s industrial language to create a contemporary dining environment overlooking a lake and gardens.

The warehouse facade was refitted with a tall frameless glass entry facing the lake and corrugated steel pierced by illuminated Kanji characters. Industrial conveyor belts are re-imagined as spiraling chandeliers of illuminated custom glass bottles. Dramatic lighting punctuates the vertical spaces, illuminating textured wood (from mushroom harvesting), hammered copper, polished concrete, blackened steel, and a sushi bar of torched ash. Soaring glass beaded chandeliers, fabricated from copper mesh fish-traps, recall traditional Asian paper lanterns and shimmer with the movement of air. Glass mosaics of abstract landscapes and calligraphy combine with custom photography to add accent and character.

The restaurant design supports the pan-Asian menu with three kitchens on two floors, including a dramatic exposed wok line, state-of-the-art seafood walk-ins, Morimoto’s signature rice polishers, and a special Peking duck station.

The design’s focal point is a dramatic continuous 270-foot sculptural bar that leaps and twists through soaring 36-foot tall spaces. This undulating “ribbon bar” combines computer design with digital fabrication made of Corian and Micro-Lite. It connects multiple bars on different levels, Maître D’, Grand Stair, and the Forbidden Lounge to create one of the longest bars in the world: uniting all levels and activities in the 17,900 square foot restaurant.