' We see interiors as story- telling environments ... - osmose design

eHiND bars
page 232-233 | reiner schmid archiTekT
blounge | graz - ausTria
Reiner Schmid Architekt
Reiner Schmid is a poster boy of outsourcing.
The architect, who’s had a practice in
Graz under his own name since 1994, has
no permanent employees. Schmid says
the one-man show keeps him creatively
nimble and allows him to work on projects
from residences to commercial spaces
to yachts. ‘I hire people or offices when I
need them,’ he says. In a system he’s followed
since 1998, Schmid designs smaller
projects, often with tight deadlines, alone.
In the case of competitions, he’s worked
with as many as five part-time designers.
For projects that require expertise in, say,
rendering, he hires another company to
shoulder the burden.
Schmid’s world of multidisciplinary
design, with its rotating cast of characters,
does exhibit a note of constancy, however.
He collaborates most frequently with three
offices and keeps a stable of freelancers.
‘They know what I want, and our collaboration
has worked very well,’ he notes.
‘And clients have contact only with me.’
His clients seem to like it. Half of Schmid’s
work comes from repeat customers,
including BL Gastro, for whom he’s done
residential design, a trade-show booth and
a showroom for one of the firm’s partners.
Information
Client: BL Gastro
Consultant: Xenon Architectural
Lighting (lighting)
Manufacturers: Prödl (furniture),
proTon (sound) and Xal (lighting)
Capacity: 100 guests
Total floor area (m²): 330
Total cost (C): 300,000
Duration of construction: 6 weeks
Opening: October 2005
Designer
Reiner Schmid Architekt
Stempfergasse 1
8010 Graz
Austria
T: +43 316 833 688
F: +43 316 833 688
rmsarch@magnet.at
Project
Blounge
Am Sparkassenplatz 4
8010 Graz
Austria
T: +43 501 0037 256
F: +43 501 0093 7255
office@blounge.at
www.blounge.at
Mon – Fri: 7 am – 8 pm
Sat: 7 am – 1 pm
above: privaTe house birkenhang |
lifT und dom in schlossberg |
privaTe house südufersTrasse
PHotograPHY: angelo kaunaT |
gerald liebminger
30
Skylab Design Group
Sinju
Tigard, Oregon, USA
‘ We see interiors as storytelling
environments,
where materials become
metaphors’
Jeff Kovel

eHiND bars
page 234-235 | skylab design group
sinJu | Tigard - oregon - usa
Sinju
Introducing a distinctive twist on North
America’s faux Japanese sushi experience,
Portland’s Skylab Design Group creates a
strikingly modern restaurant and lounge
for Sinju. Evoking earth, water, fire, and
sky – all within the confines of a suburban
shopping mall – the interior brings a lively
atmosphere to the unlikeliest of places.
Text by Tim McKeough
Photography by Steve Cridland
It’s impossible not to feel the heat when
stepping inside Sinju, a sushi restaurant
and lounge in Tigard, Oregon, just south
of Portland. A narrow ribbon of red ceramic
tile pulls visitors inside, past cosy
coves topped with cherry-blossom wallpaper,
towards a crackling fire at the end
of the path. There, the red ribbon turns
skyward, wrapping the chimney before
disappearing into the zigzagging acrylic
ceiling, which casts a heart-warming rosy
glow over the entire room.
Designed by architect Jeff Kovel and
his Skylab Design Group, the intimate
lounge delivers just the convivial atmosphere
his client ordered. The 251-m²
venue is Sinju’s second location and
represents a radical departure from its
first, which followed the more conventional
approach of equipping a Japanese
restaurant with shoji and tatami.
Although the first location is successful
as a dining establishment, Kovel explains
that his clients ‘have no lounge or bar
business, so their directive to me was to
create a modern space with a lounge that
worked’.
One problem standing in Skylab’s way
was the location of the restaurant, which
was to be just one of many tenants
occupying a major shopping complex.
There would be plenty of foot traffic
passing by, but it would be challenging to
create a dining experience that radiated
the authenticity of a Japanese restaurant
in Osaka, for example. In response to
the dilemma, Kovel decided that rather
than attempting to make Sinju more real
than other American sushi bars, Skylab
Design would creatively riff on the
artificiality of such institutions. ‘We see
interiors as storytelling environments,
where materials become metaphors,’ says
Kovel. ‘Our approach is to deep dive into
research on our subject matter. In this
case, we looked at sushi restaurants, as
well as at traditional Japanese residential
Previous Page: a red brick paTh enTices visiTors To enTer The lounge aT sinJu.
above: an aTmospheric lounge space, one of The clienT’s Top prioriTies, is kepT
visually ToasTy wiTh wood, fire, and red lighT.

eHiND bars
page 236-237 | skylab design group
sinJu | Tigard - oregon - usa
projects and construction. We realized
that 95 percent of the sushi restaurants
in America are all the same – they’re
miniaturized versions of the traditional
Japanese house. They have these fake
balconies and fake courtyards and fake
gardens.’
Skylab reinterpreted that model to suit
its own needs, playfully imagining
an artificial Japanese landscape that’s
more slick dreamland than sentimental
tribute. Borrowing a few basics from
Japanese architecture, Skylab arranged
the lounge and restaurant as a series of
separate spaces linked by tight pathways.
The next step was to focus on evoking
feelings of earth, water, fire and sky
in different zones. The warm blush of
the lounge represents fire. The ceiling
of the dining room, where a crumpled
composition of white acrylic panels floats
overhead, is reminiscent of a sky filled
with low-hanging clouds. The sushi bar
and dining areas are demarcated by massive
boxes of Douglas fir that hover over
stone flooring – clear references to the
earth. Water seems to be the only thing
missing, until you set foot in the private
dining room, where the element is expressed
without getting patrons the least
bit wet. Cool blue lighting and carpet,
along with more than 400 lily-pad sushi
plates on a feature wall, create a moment
as refreshing as breaking the surface of a
tranquil lake.
Strolling into Sinju doesn’t dish up the
sensation of a visit to Kyoto, nor does it
feel like part of a day spent hanging out
at a shopping mall. That’s its beauty.
Skylab found the middle ground – a
restaurant-cum-lounge that’s neither
east nor west, but a place of its own.
toP leFt: in The dining room, an undulaTing TranslucenT ceiling is meanT To represenT The sky.
toP rigHt: wooden boxes wrap The bar and hover above Tables, creaTing The impression of a foresT.
bottom: slaTe floors keep everyThing grounded wiTh earThy sTone.

eHiND bars
page 238-239 | skylab design group
sinJu | Tigard - oregon - usa
Floor PlaN: 01. bar | 02. lounge | 03. dining area | 04. kiTchen | 05. cloakroom | 06. lavaTories | 07. sTorage
oPPosite: The privaTe ‘blue room’ is covered wiTh blue sushi plaTes on The wall.
north
0
20'

eHiND bars
page 240-241 | skylab design group
sinJu | Tigard - oregon - usa
Skylab Design Groep
Skylab Design Group was founded in 1999
by architect Jeff Kovel, a native of New
York who studied at Cornell University.
Before launching the company, Kovel
worked at Architropolis for three years,
during which time he oversaw construction
of a Miami residence and recording
studio for Lenny Kravitz. At age 26 he
went out on his own, building residential
projects on spec and gradually establishing
a healthy list of clients.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Skylab Design
Group is now a ten-member-strong team
involved in a wide variety of projects,
including residential, retail and restaurant
design. Every Skylab project spins from
a strong, singular vision and a desire to
create memorable images – objectives
that result in vividly distinctive buildings
and interiors. ‘We’re very aware of and
interested in concepts and storytelling,’
says Kovel. The firm first received national
acclaim with the completion of Doug Fir, a
woodsy Portland bar. The interior successfully
mixed log-cabin walls with modern
details in polycarbonate, metal, and glass
(including blown-glass antlers) The fact
that it featured an unlikely pairing of
styles wasn’t a surprise. Skylab envisions
itself as ‘a laboratory to explore a small
departure from an industry of mounting
standardization’.
Information
Client: Chong U
Consultants: Froelich Engineers and
MFIA
Manufacturer: Grey Purcell Contractors
Capacity: 124 seats
Total floor area (m²): 251
Total cost (US$): 750,000
Duration of construction: 6 months
Opening: February 2007
Designer
Skylab Design Group
1221 SW Alder Street
City Portland, OR 97205
USA
T: +1 503 525 9315
F: +1 503 525 0028
jeff@skylabdesign.com
www.skylabdesign.com
Project
Sinju
7339 SW Bridgeport Road
City Tigard, OR 97224
USA
T: +1 503 352 3815
Sun – Thu: 11 am – 10 pm
above: doug fir resTauranT | Jordan
warehouse | privaTe residence | nau shop |
privaTe residence aT 12Th + alder | 1680 house
PHotograPHY | sTeve cridland
31
Söhne & Partner Architects
Red Room
Vienna, Austria
‘ There’s something
intrinsically naughty
about velvet that
we found ideal for a
nightclub’
Guido Trampitsch