This is not a sci-fi movie set, but a noodle house in Chongqing

Between endless matrix tables, reflective walls and color filters, Office AIO’s project combines science fiction and aesthetic minimalism, in the Chinese city where trains “fly” through buildings.

The Chinese megalopolis today best known for the viral videos of the subway train passing through an inhabited apartment building at the sixth and eighth floors, or for the images of the horizontal cylindrical skyscraper literally resting on 4 of the Raffles City towers complex, also boasts the charm of one of the city’s oldest settlements, Shibati (or Eighteen Stairs), crisscrossed by a 400-meter-long street made up of more than 200 steps that connects the city’s high and low districts.

Among the Shibati’s alleys, Office AIO designs an eccentric Noodle House, flagship of the local brand LaiDeKuai. From the outside, the 4 openings attract passersby because of the intense red and orange hues reflected in the general ambient lighting. Those who stop to enter will thus find themselves thrown into a space with futuristic and equally essential connotations. Before even entering, Office AIO carves out a covered semi-public area, thanks to the setback of the facade, useful for eating outside, delivery pick-ups, or simply taking a break.

Office AIO, Noodle House In Transit, Chongqing, China, 2024. Photo Wen Studio.

Inside, the extent of the large single room is doubled because of the effect of the mirrored walls, and the brushed aluminum back wall that reflects lights and colors. The whole space is homogeneously treated, with the three long Formica tables, one of which is positioned outside, and designed with white checker and red outlines, being the main furniture of the Noodle House.

Wastberg ‘Sempé’ lamps mimic the well-known “hawker style” red pendants widely used in China, while the menu, written on the restaurant's walls in Chinese characters, inevitably recalls the iconic Matrix code from the well-known saga by the Wachowski sisters, giving the Noodle House a sci-fi aesthetic in a perfect Chongqing style.

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