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Architect Amanda Gunawan on designing the perfect dining experience

Design architecture isn’t just about looks. It has a resounding effect on a restaurant, from the way customers perceive to the way they enjoy, as Owiu Studio co-founder and rising architect Amanda Gunawan tells us

By Yasmine Loh - 

Justin Chung
Justin Chung
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Architect Amanda Gunawan has forged a close connection with food through her work. Her Los Angeles-based architecture and design firm Owiu Studio (short for Only Way Is Up) which she co-founded with fellow architect Joel Wong in 2018 is behind some of the most thoughtfully-designed interiors in the hottest architecture and design scene yet – the F&B industry.

The studio frequent collaborates with Singaporean-based hospitality company Proper Concepts. Together, they’ve created spaces for popular contemporary Japanese restaurants, Mezcla, Rappu Handroll Bar, and Goho Kaiseki & Bar.

restaurant design

Credit: Finbarr Fallon

Owiu Studio and Proper Concepts oversaw the design of contemporary Japanese restaurant, Rappu Handroll Bar in Singapore.

The thought process behind creating such spaces is much more than simply taking the restaurant concept at face value, but is more so about considering all aspects – the overall vibe of the restaurant, staff and customer traffic flow, and decor to make the space pop. Simply put, how a room can become a space where people can constantly eat, drink, and enjoy, in more ways than one.

The Indonesia-born and Singapore-raised Gunawan met Wong here prior to the duo enrolling into the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). She would move on to work in Urban Planning and Design at the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, as well as with Pritzker-prize-winning Architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis Architects. Fast forward to today, and they oversee a multidisciplinary practice that includes a line of furniture and home goods which can be purchased via its Instagram.

Credit: Justin Chung

The Japanese ryokan-inspired Biscuit Loft is Gunawan’s apartment in Los Angeles and doubles up as Owiu Studio’s home base. The space is situated in building that used to house the National Biscuit Company Bakery.

One of their most recent projects is their own design studio The Biscuit Loft. The 1,620 sq ft space in L.A.’s buzzy Arts District is also Gunawan’s apartment and boasts her distinctive Japanese-influenced touches all around. Designed during the height of the pandemic, the sun-soaked space is part Zen hideaway, part industrial loft. As for the cheeky-sounding name? It is a nod to the former occupant: the National Biscuit Company Bakery.

Ahead, Gunawan clues us in on how design architecture and the dining experience can evolve together.

Design architecture is more than just aesthetics (Or from that Instagram shot)

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“We design thoughtfully and we craft very carefully – that while we care about the final aesthetics of a project, we believe it is a by-product of a strong narrative. The two actually work in a tangential manner where we believe one cannot exist without the other. Something that is only aesthetically pleasing without a strong narrative and backing, I would argue, does not exist.

We have never designed anything (including the custom Table-Y dining table pictured above) wanting it to be Instagrammable but I think if you’re designing well and thoughtfully, it’s just a natural by-product. If you put out a well-designed space then it would naturally be Instagrammable.”

People make the place

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“We heavily consider the experience of every stakeholder involved when designing a dining space – this includes the patrons, the service staff, etc. Their experience is actually probably the first element that we consider when trying to come up with the spatial arrangement of a space.

For example, with Goho (pictured), they wanted to create a space for a very unconventional type of kaiseki but we still brought the traditional concept of ‘shitsurai’ (a Japanese concept of hospitality) into the design and built around that.”

A physical space is a restaurant's identity

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“I think people are starting to see how important it is so I would imagine F&B establishments now investing more into the design of the space which should therefore increase the attention to the little details of a space (pictured is the trippy walkway in the 66-seat Mezcla Owiu designed).

We love restaurants like Esora and the new Burnt Ends. In San Francisco, there is a restaurant called Birdsong and we love the design of French Laundry in Napa. I love Noma in Copenhagen because it really captures the essence of their brand. It is both functional and beautiful. It draws in nature from the outside, making that a huge contributing factor to their overall design.”

It's about balancing efficiency with creativity

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“With any commercial property, [a unique challenge] has to be speed and efficiency, which we both love and hate. Love, because no time is wasted but hate because we have to amp up our design and construction process. But it just means we have to be even more detailed with our communication of certain design elements.

Right now people want efficiency and speed and are willing to overlook the little design details as long as you keep cost low. I think the younger architects and designers are trying to solve the problem that I mentioned above by standing united and firm in not wanting to put out bad work for the sake of efficiency. If you’re using so much resources to getting a space built, it’s important to do it right.”



This article was first published on Female.

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