Hospitality Design - October 2013 - 116

Despite its small size, Israel has always punched far above

its weight when it comes to innovative interior design—especially
in the restaurant arena. And the new pan-Asian eatery Taizu
Asiaterranean Kitchen ambitiously shows why. Set in a newish
office tower in Tel Aviv’s center, the restaurant—designed by local
architect Pitsou Kedem along with Baranowitz-Amit design studio—
is a sprawling showplace that elevates Asian-style street food dining
to luxurious new levels.
Taizu is divided into five main seating areas—from a casual
lounge and grand main dining room to a more intimate chef’s
room—and earthy, natural elements form the core of its aesthetic
inspirations. “Taizu’s key themes are the five elements of ancient
Chinese philosophy—fire, metal, water, wood, earth—so we chose
three tangible materials to represent this thinking,” says Sigal
Baranowitz, one-half of the founding principals of Baranowitz-Amit.
“Earth is represented as concrete, there’s bamboo for wood, and iron
for metal.”
Embedded within these tangible materials are the softer and
more ephemeral motifs that evoke Asia’s essence. The concrete
panels that separate the main dining spaces feature an almost
geometric interpretation of the traditional banana leaf, while the
bijoux chef’s room is cloistered in walls crafted from tiny bamboo
blocks. Baronowitz says that the banana leaf-patterned panels were

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actually one of Taizu’s greatest design obstacles. “They consist
of more than one hundred pieces laser-cut from concrete,” she
explains. “They’re like a great big puzzle and it was a relief to see
them come together so successfully.”
According to Kedem, Taizu’s site (and previous use as a lower end
mega bar) was among its most serious challenges. One of his first
modifications was to place Taizu’s entrance on a tiny inner piazza
instead of its existing entry on bustling Begin Boulevard. “This
allows visitors to discover the space after they have entered,” he says.
While all of the architecture and many of Taizu’s largerscale furniture and partitions were created by the architects, the
restaurant does include an impressive roster of European pieces.
There are Vitra chairs and lamps from Foscarini and Vibia,
contrasting nicely with locally made furniture such as black slate
tables in the lemongrass-shrouded garden and lounge areas.
Ultimately, the design team’s goal was to devise a dining
destination that both celebrated its neighborhood’s urban vitality
while still conveying a sense of uniqueness and occasion through an
interplay of architecture and design. “We wanted to tie the restaurant
to its urban context,” Kedem says, “and connect the hustle-and-bustle
of the city with a slow, quiet, and romantic experience.” hd
pit sou . com; ba-inte riors. com; t aiz u . co. il

http://www.pitsou.com http://www.ba-interiors.com http://taizu.co.il http://www.hospitalitydesign.com

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