West Lake Grace & Tomacado Aesthetics，openingthe multiple latitudes of female time.

This is Tomacado, not just a simple restaurant,but a healing destination surrounded by flowers,an escape from cold city jungle. Under the brand aesthetic ——One City One Flower, One Flower One Meal, Liangzhu and Huachu have been working together for the past seven years,with Tomacado as the latest outcome.Located in the 77A area of Hangzhou Lakeside Intime,Tomacado has the perfect location facing the West Lake.The designers have poured an elegant & feminine aesthetic into the spatiality & temporality, with lotus being the design clue, creating a dining place full of vitality.

Architectureand Objects

The designer relates to space through the language of architecture and the way of thinking. Objects can be functional, while being the carrier of the motion line in the space to be explored and practiced. In thinking about the constructive relationship between architecture and objects, space will present its unique rhythm and layers, while the relationship between different interfaces can be penetrated, blurred, and re-associated in the same time. The co-existence of space and objects complementing each other is not only full of sparkling of interests, but also endowing multiple values to space.

In Tomacado, the material surface created by the lotus flowers and the architectural surface of the restaurant are in counterpoint to each other constituting a vivid entirety in the balance of motion and stillness, between the reality and the virtuality.

Bring in the Four Seasons

Flowers bloom on the banks of West Lake. With the reconstruction of the relationship between inside and outside space, the designer has incorporated the scene of four-season lotus pond, overlapping lakeside and water flowing beneath corridor bridge into the space. Through floor structure adjustment, the designer breaks the limitations of the original building and creates the visual channel between the second and third floor for the dining area along the lake, which accomplishes the visual connection from ground to ceiling. This resolves the oppressive feeling of floor height and greatly enhancing the dining experience. The entrance to the restaurant from the mall is clad with metal hollowed copper panels, echoing the open and clear floor-to-ceiling windows by the street, which made it overall both lightweight and grand.

Looking inward from the streets,the curved structure of the floor and the interior dining space can be seen vaguely after the hollowing out, the elegant and comfortable sense of transparency forms a contrasting tension with the nostalgic mood of time at the entrance. The arched structure of the interior forms an enclosed atrium from the third floor to the second floor, generating a dialogue with the floral installation. With light and shadow falling on the flowers,a soft atmosphere is here injected into the solid space, towards a feminine aesthetic through delicate materials and gentle colors. 

Reconstruction of Visual Memories

The designers take West Lake Lotus as a vehicle to interpret the genies loci and brand concept. The lotus flower, as the most recognized visual symbol of West Lake, embodies the concept of Tomacado,which is to seek serenity in a crowded and buzzing city.

Lotus is used to interpret the Flower Kitchen branding system is multiple ways. As the centerpiece of staircase space, the main lotus installation hanging down from the third floor roof contains electromechanical structure inside so that the huge body of lotus flower can bloom, close and swing, displaying a fully charged charm of West Lake elegance. Its silk texture is soft and light to show the beauty of the flower to the maximum extent. The design of pathways comes also from the natural form and beauty of the flower, poking out from the wall edge doorway, running in the vertical space through the dining area, and also as a visual cue to guide the diner.

The lotus blossoms rhythmically, making the originally static space breathing along with the movements of petals.Overlapped progressively with layers of pathways and scenes, the architectural space evolves into an otherworldly universe, from straight forwad from straightforward and bare to blurred and gentle; from serious and simple to rich and flexible; from constant and unique to flowing with the four seasons, with unexpected and surprising touches at all times.

The wall relief is another representation of lotus as a visual memory. The permanence of the sculpture and the dynamic three-dimensional lotus reflect each other. The flowers and olives on the table serve as accents, which together complete the ecological scene of the interior with the lotus as the theme, and the flower form is expressed in its full richness through the architectural space, where the beauty of nature and the energy of life are born.

The designers concern the aesthetics of the interior with the nature outside. The lotus flower installations are at their best presentation with the natural lighting shining in. Layered shadows are casted on the flowers themselves, and on the walls and plates. It is a delightful scene favored by the photographers.  

At the sunset, daylight turns warmer and changes the tone of the space subtly. The window seats are best locations to appreciate the sunset on the West Lake. It feels like being immersed in a "lotus pond" with the sparkling lake water and the soft orange sun. It is a visual delight that only can be experienced by being there and then.

Creatingthe "her" era

At dusk, the sunlight pours in from streetside windows, through the glass and filtered by the perforated metal panels.  The dappled light moves on the thin and translucent silk petals of the lotus installations, as if bringing life to them.   It is a surprisingly beautiful gift from nature.