AD ARCHITECTURE GENTLE L BY ALAN YU

Project name: GENTLE L BY ALAN YU Design firm: AD ARCHITECTURE (http://www.arch-ad.com/) Email: office@arch-ad.com Chief designer: Xie Peihe Design team: AD ARCHITECTURE Lighting consultants: Lin Shaodong, Wu Jingmin Location: Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Area: 600 m2 Materials: wrinkled aluminum, carpet, paint, stone slab, lamp (SIKI) Start time: January 2020 Completion time: July 2020 Photography: Ouyang Yun

Brand Recognition | Poetry Hidden in the Heart of the City Situated on the second floor of Hilton in Futian District, Shenzhen, China, GENTLE L BY ALAN YU is a French restaurant, co-founded by Léon LI and Alan YU. The letter "L" in the brand name represents the initials of Léon LI, while "GENTLE" indicates a sense of ritual and French elegance, besides, Alan YU was previously the Executive Chef of a three-Michelin-starred restaurant.

Slanting curved structures are freely combined in the space. The fluent planes and broken curved shapes create fluid spatial scenes. Floating structures and oblique forms generate a playful sense of lightness and instability. The overall space is semi-enclosed, which not only ensures privacy but also enables people to enjoy varying scenes and have different feelings when walking in it. The dim light environment implies that what happens to people in the space is the core of design.

Curved stainless steel screens are used to effectively separate private rooms. Such arrangement ensures the timeliness of services since it provides better field of vision, without interrupting diners. The design enables the realization of an attentive service system.

Set at the corner of the restaurant, the bar area is accessible to all dining tables. Not far away from every dining area, it satisfies necessary functional demands while also adding a romantic yet playful character to the space. Different from common noisy pubs, the bar area is tranquil but is charming as well.

The design of the banquet hall emphasizes the elegance and simplicity of spatial scenes, as well as the sense of ritual during dining. A counter is placed there, enabling the guests to enjoy food-making process.

Most French restaurants usually have a traditional spatial pattern. However, as approaching the project, the design firm AD ARCHITECTURE made an innovative attempt, which broke with the conventional layout while also bringing in French-style elegance and romance. The design focuses on creating immersive French-style dining experiences. From geometric shapes to natural material textures, dim light and music.

The project shows a novel artistic interpretation of aesthetics. In such a space, one table, two persons and delicious food can form a poetic, distinctive and storytelling scene. The project is an attempt to shape the future of the city, and to stimulate people to discover the inner mind and explore playful experiences.