GORILLA is a new-school sushi bar in the premises of the Mirage cinema.
In this project, we decided to mix Asian street culture with jungle and digital themes.
The restaurant space is located in the general area of the cinema lobby and smoothly extends it. We aspired to separate the restaurant from the lobby, yet, not with blind partitions, but with separate objects that create a complex space resembling a labyrinth.
When we enter GORILLA from the cinema lobby, we immediately see canvases suspended from the ceiling and illuminated with scarlet light separating the spaces. Somewhere among them, there are contrasting vertical lights reminiscent of bamboo trunks. These canvases make it possible to cluster different seating areas and make the open kitchen area easy to observe.
The further we move into the space, the more it transforms from minimalist and light to a dark, noir digital jungle. Thickets of glowing vines emerge from the ceiling, and the concrete on the walls becomes more visible. The vibe becomes more rough. In this wild jungle, we added elements of Asian culture: neon signs, manga comics, and slot machines to emphasise the cuisine of the place. There is also a rough rock fragment - a bar ‘held’ by the huge paws of a gorilla
All these elements together create the effect of a complex, intricate space; the visitor of the restaurant finds themselves in a real jungle, where they can get lost from the outside world.
