Interview about Tsukiji Sushiiwa Tsukijiten Sushi Resutaurant, winner of the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award 2024
Tsukiji Sushiiwa Tsukijiten was design in Tsukiji Tokyo, neighbor of former central fish market. Since sushi is now a days known as a world wide cuisine, The goal of this project was to design a sophisticated space which can be passed on to the future, a place where people can enjoy chef's traditional skills and sushi etiquette of Edomae sushi. The essence of Edomae sushi is to maximize the potential of fresh seafood through minimal hand work by the chef. Therefore focused on designing the sushi counter, so that the fresh seafood and chef's skills will stand out.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsEdomae sushi was originally eaten standing at street corner stalls, but as time went on, restaurants began to pursue more sophisticated equipment and customer comfort. However, in order to pass on the tradition, the essence remains the same: serving customers with high-quality sushi and making them happy.Therefore, the project's challenge was to create a more sophisticated and high-level design that would make seafood more attractive, make adjustments that would make it easier for the chef and staff to provide hospitality, and create a space where customers could spend their time comfortably.Among the challenges, adjusting the height of the viewpoints of customers, chefs, and staff was an important issue. This is because Japanese hospitality is based on respect and communication tailored to the guest.Therefore, when a customer is seated in a tatami room, the staff also sit at eye level and provide hospitality.In order to embody this philosophy at the sushi counter seats, I solved the problems with the chef's floor, such as waterproofing and drainage pipes, and then adjusted the floor level on the customer's side.The project was designed to naturally inherit traditional ideas and customs, rather than embellishing or making a statement.
Even in Japan, it is common for sushi restaurants to have a rustic glass display case with refrigerant pipes in a stainless steel frame mounted on the counter, separating the chef from the customer. On the other hand, small privately owned sushi restaurants store seafood in old-fashioned wooden boxes with ice, making it difficult to see the ingredients, but there is no functional problem in managing seafood ingredients.However, this project also gave a high priority to the customer's perspective. Therefore, by specially designing a frameless showcase made of highly transparent glass, we were able to create an intimate sushi counter with reduced noise from the customer's view.
This space has become an attractive and unique space with an excellent harmony of textures created by each material and the finish of the craftsman. As a result, this sophisticated space plays an important role in guaranteeing the authenticity of the Edomae sushi that this restaurant provides.Additionally, the collaboration on this project served as a valuable opportunity to pass on the skills of these craftsmen in their respective fields.
First, it was important to share with the client the historical evolution of Edomae sushi and what kind of restaurant style would be appropriate for the future.The actual staff etiquette and facility equipment were complex, but through prototyping we discovered that rather than dealing with them in a complicated way, we could simplify them and have a higher possibility of tolerance. Ta.The discoveries we made during this process about the chef's behavior at the sushi counter and the customer's perspective were extremely helpful in the specific design stage, including selecting materials, setting dimensions, and lighting plans.
Tsukiji Sushiiwa was located close to the former Tokyo Central Fish Market, and was also located right in front of the historic Tsukiji Honganji Temple.However, no one could have predicted what the cityscape would look like after the Tokyo Central Fish Market was relocated for the Tokyo Olympics 2020.Based on this historical trend, this project also aimed to pass on the townscape of the Tsukiji area to the future. Plastered walls, window lattices, and Japanese paper shoji screens were adopted as landscape elements for the townscape that will be inherited.
In fact, the tatami room is often used for business meetings and families, so it was necessary to create a private and quiet space. On the other hand, the counter seats needed to be an intimate and open space where people could enjoy interaction with the chef and the customers at the counter, and the table seats needed to be a casual space where visitors could feel at ease.When designing this space, it was important to create a well-balanced layout that would allow each customer to enjoy sushi in their own diverse styles.In addition, since the staff will respond to each customer's purpose and sitting style, it was important to have a functional design that would not cause stress or waste to the staff.
While it is important for the sushi counter to showcase the fresh seafood and the chef's skills, it was most important that the design integrated it into a space that felt intimate to the customers.In order to achieve these goals, I tried to provide sufficient functionality and eliminate waste. This meant focusing on carefully selected materials and thoughtful dimensional design.In addition, appropriate lighting design was essential. Like a stage performance by an actor or dancer, like a glass case in a jewelry shop or patisserie that displays jewelry and chocolates, and so that the audience can enjoy a comfortable time... It was designed based on the philosophy of Edomae sushi.
Even in Japan, there are many sushi restaurants that are efficient in terms of management and convenient for cooking, but there are not many that are well-balanced and integrated with customer comfort in mind.I believe the secret to my success is my design method, which involves first sharing the challenges faced by the chef, diner, and customer, and then carefully solving each problem one by one through design.
Although Japanese cuisine was born from ingredients and cooking methods that are unique to Japan, I believe that a flexible approach to ingredients and cooking methods will remain effective even as we develop globally.In the design field as well, essential designs that not only stick to traditional styles and materials, but also understand Japanese culture and flexibly solve its situations and problems will be highly valued in the future. I think it will have a big impact.
To achieve visual clarity, I simplified the components and organized the functionality.To give you an easy-to-understand example, I designed a box for storing seafood in the frameless glass showcases, a box for seaweed, and cooking utensils such as cutting boards all made of hinoki cypress, the same material used for sushi counters.I also arranged for cooking that is not directly related to nigiri sushi to be done in the backyard kitchen.It was also important to design effective lighting so that each element would have an appropriate presence on the sushi stage.
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