The location

Building on the past work Rikiki had completed for Yaz’s offices and the training restaurant, the team was ready to do it again at scale. In early 2013, Yaz had found a location for their first flagship restaurant in downtown Stuttgart.

Architecturally, this location was as awesome as daunting: The main space was formed as a giant ellipse with a unique facade made from curved metal plates framing a 20 meters long, seamless window front.

The layout was quite impractical, with two storeys, connected by a huge staircase behind another glass front, and hampered by too many seemingly arbitrary walls on the lower level.

Finding an approach

The tried-and-tested team of Rikiki, Brust+Partner architects, and the Yaz management team put their heads together to figure out how they could fit Yaz’s first flagship restaurant into this unwieldy space. Major construction work was inevitable; vital structural elements had to be moved and large holes had to be sunk into the ground and cut through the ceilings.

Defining the actual look and feel of the interior was next for Rikiki. To even imagine the multitude of choices for the interior design – floors, ceilings, walls, furniture, lighting, materials, colors, functionality, pathways – working with only the floor layout turned out to be quite limiting. So the restaurant was recreated in a virtual 3D space, to aid in trying out various options and combinations.

Equipped with a multitude of plans from the architects, Rikiki meticulously illustrated the entire interior design in a comprehensive style guide, labeling colors, lighting fixtures and types, curtain heights, wallpaper makes and furniture article numbers. It became the defining guidebook for all craftsmen on site.

Construction phase

As anyone doing any construction work in the city of Stuttgart will attest: Its city government is one of Germany's worst regarding the waiting time for building permits. So the timeline from getting the permit to the grand opening slated for September 27th, 2013 became frighteningly short: Less than three months!

Luckily, the big pieces came together surprisingly fast: Rikiki had planned an elaborate ceiling construction along the elliptical window front, above the main counter, as well as the entrance to balance the room's height and create a wide open, yet cozy dining area.

The layout of the dining tables echoes the building's shape, working with the ellipse and offering secluded spaces. With long tables for groups and concentrically arranged seating areas with a nice view of the street, this was continued outside on the newly constructed terrace seating area as well.

Special attention was given to areas which are usually not the highlight of restaurants – namely the entrance, restrooms, and the waiting area for take-away pickups. In-house collaboration with Rikiki's design branch, two tribes proved to be invaluable in getting marketing, information planning, and interior design ideas quickly on the same page, to the benefit of the client and the restaurant guests alike.

14 days to go

In every commercial construction project, the last 14 days are the most thrilling – it's the time when no one can imagine the place turning out right and becoming spit and polish ready in time.

Eagerly following the progress, Rikiki paid daily visits to the construction site, checking plans against actual progress, coming up with ad-hoc fixes, and explaining why this coat of paint could in no way be the color initially specified.

The entire journey from dust to delight culminated with the grand opening of the finished restaurant, which has since become a landmark site on this very traditional German street. Thanks to a unique combination of the easily visible interior glow and the reworked modern facade and patio, the public is enticed to venture into a modern dining ambience, with all the flair of the Orient.