Tori Tori Restaurant design by Rojkind Arquitectos + Esrawe Studio
project info:
program: restaurant
construction area: 629 m2
status: completed
design date: 2009
completion date: 2011
location: polanco, mexico city
architectural project: Rojkind Arquitectos and Esrawe Studio
rojkind arquitectos: michel rojkind [founding partner], gerardo salinas [partner]
project team: tere levy, agustín pereyra, raúl araiza, carlos alberto ríos, isaac smeke j., enrique f. de la barrera,
daniela bustamante, daniel hernández
esrawe studio: héctor esrawe [principal in charge]
project team: ricardo casas, basia pineda, ian castillo, karianne rygh, alejandra castelao, jorge bracho, alejandro zárate,
marcela muñoz, edgar sánchez, rodrigo l. franco
design computational consultants: kokkugia [roland snooks, robert stuart-smith]
construction: zda desarrollo + arquitectura [yuri zagorin]
structural engineering: ing. juan felipe heredia
facade engineering: grupo mas [ing. eduardo flores]
m.e.p.: quantum diseño
lighting design: luz en arquitectura [arq. kai diederichsen]
audio & video design: ntx new technology experience
landscape design: entorno taller de paisaje
furniture: esrawe studio
kitchen: san-son
visualization: © glessner group [www.glessnergroup.com]
interior visualization: esrawe studio
photographer: paúl rivera
Considered one of the best Japanese restaurants in Mexico City and due to its remarkable success, Tori-Tori is now moving to a bigger location in the same area of Polanco, Mexico City, where Architect Michel Rojkind and Industrial Designer Hector Esrawe teamed up to make it happen.
At the residential area in Polanco that has seen changes in its zoning, houses have been transformed to office spaces or restaurants.
Sometimes things happen so unnoticeably, that just a small sign appears where a new space has been developed with a completely different program inside, while preserving its exterior. Aware of this, Rojkind and Esrawe wanted to give enough strength to the new program that they proposed to transform the space inside out.
Taking advantage of the plot’s conditions, the parking space will be left where it is, to use the budget mainly for restructuring and renovating the house, stripping the residential interior and removing all familiar features to produce an entirely different environment.
‘We are being coherent with its culinary know-how and creating the accurate environment and situations for a gastronomical experience. The final result is achieved not only by working with the client but with his complete staff as well.’
Although the client’s requirements were oriented towards a Japanese interpretation, it was not literal, he wanted the place to have its own personal expression, contemporary and cosmopolitan, by enhancing its spatial existing conditions through different experiences, the new range of open spaces, its terraces, its sake bar and its own exclusive temple oriented to the highly demanding sushi lovers.
Maintaining a very intimate and subtle feel towards the first encounter with the exterior, once you enter you’ll find yourself in a terrace, where eating and drinking are embraced by natural vegetation.
The building’s organic façade and landscape were carefully designed to become an extension of the restaurant creating a strong relationship between the inside and the outside.
The interior receives and follows the exterior with subtle contrasts. Each room has its own nature and shows a clear relationship with its function. The furniture was inspired and made for Tori Tori and developed with a direct orientation through each space. During more than eight months a complete collection of chairs and tables where created, for both exterior and interior use.
‘We seek in the project a chance for the users to link with the different ambiances and choose their favorites. Each space’s materials, setup and characteristics towards the furniture generate a wide spectrum of options and sensations for its assiduous clients.’ I.D. Héctor Esrawe, ESRAWE studio
The Façade, which seems to emerge from the ground climbing up through the building, as if mimicking the natural ivy surrounding the retaining walls, is made up of two self-supporting layers of steel plates cut with a CNC machine and handcrafted to exact specifications. The facade’s pattern responds to the inside openings, filtering light, shadows, and views that will constantly invade the interior spaces. An atmosphere enriched by the spectrum of subtle changes.
Source: Rojkind Arquitectos and Esrawe Studio milimetdesign – Where the convergence of unique creatives