Sushi Zero: oriental atmospheres and innovative materials

Serving Chinese and Japanese cuisine and more, the Sushi Zero restaurant offers its customers an all-round culinary experience in the unique setting of an oriental garden created as part of a recent architecture and interior design project.
The restaurant is situated in the municipality of Buguggiate just a short walk from the shores of Lake Varese. The interiors of a municipally-owned building underwent a remodelling project carried out by the architecture and engineering firm Lend Studio aimed at transforming the spatial distribution and introducing new finishes and plant systems.
As architect Elisabetta Puviani explained, the exterior was left almost unchanged while the interiors underwent extensive renovation work. „Inside we completely remodelled and modernised the kitchen and service areas, adapting the entire space to the new kind of cuisine, to staff movements and to the transport of food to and from the dining areas,“ she said.
The heart of the project was the large central water pool surrounded by tables mounted on stilts in a symbolic reference to Asian and tropical landscapes. „The pool plays an important role in dividing up the various zones and functions, as do the padded side benches and the tall iron planters that separate this central area from the side distribution corridors and the other tables,“ continued the architect.
The alternation between the various areas of the restaurant and between the furnishing elements is reflected in the sequence of surface coverings that help to define specific uses. For this purpose, porcelain tile from Ceramiche Keope was chosen in three versions inspired by wood, concrete and stone. Specifically, the raised areas are tiled with wood-effect porcelain from the Evoke collection, chosen in a 20×120 cm size reminiscent of classic parquet planks. The main floor, including the distribution areas, features Moov concrete-effect porcelain in the colour Grey. Last but not least, the In&Out Percorsi Quartz natural stone-inspired collection in the colour White was used on the walls. This alternation between materials, colours and texture and between geometries and sizes was a key aspect of the project. As evidenced by the purpose-cut sound-absorbing ceiling panels and the shapes of the stones standing in the pool of water which form the main distribution route, each surface covering was custom designed and based on specific geometries and combinations of shapes. This philosophy led to the choice of medium-sized formats. „We opted for porcelain tiles in small or medium sizes for both functional reasons – the areas to be covered were relatively small – and to cut costs and meet the budget,“ explained Puviani.