Designed for the well-known Kofuku chain of Japanese and Korean fine dining restaurants, this 3,000 sq ft space in Bandra set out to reinterpret traditional Japanese dining within an Indian urban context.
The central architectural gesture is the reworking of the tatami room. Rather than replicating it as an imported artefact, the design translates its spatial logic—intimacy, enclosure, filtered light—into a system of ash-wood timber screens and slatted partitions. Vertical and horizontal members are composed to create layered thresholds: neither fully open nor fully closed, but calibrated to offer privacy without isolation.
Raised platforms articulate the dining floor, allowing guests to experience a contemporary version of tatami seating rarely seen in India at the time. The booths are framed as timber pavilions within the larger volume, establishing a rhythm of smaller rooms within the restaurant’s footprint.
Soft cloth lanterns suspend within this timber lattice, casting a diffused glow that heightens the warmth of the wood and reinforces the measured quiet of the space. Hand-illustrated fabric panels introduce subtle references to Japanese landscape motifs—trees, birds, seasonal imagery—serving as atmospheric backdrops rather than decorative statements.
The project established a distinctive spatial identity for Kofuku in India: rooted in Japanese architectural principles, yet expressed through a contemporary material palette and crafted detailing suited to Mumbai’s climate and dining culture.
