0.5 ITALIAN

The restaurant was divided into three dining sections: a casual front dining area; the middle open kitchen section with accompanying high tables - guests are seated at eye-level to the chefs at work and also get to enjoy unobstructed views of the entire restaurant; and finally, the large group seating area at the rear.  Here, with the generously sized square table, minimal customer traffic and open sea view, larger groups can enjoy their gatherings in uninterrupted comfort.  The mix of seating heights and table forms creates a dynamic flow in the space.

The biggest challenge for this project was to design and build the stone pizza oven within the open kitchen where pizza and pasta are to be freshly made in-house.  Inspired by Italian terrazzo made from marble chippings commonly seen in flooring and table tops, fragmented black tiling with contrasting white grouting creates an abstract pattern for the organic round shaped stone oven.  In order to create cohesiveness to the overall design, the black and white was extended into the mosaic tiles of the hosting desk which was trimmed with copper, as well as the large floor tiling in the casual dining area.

In order to create the right mood for 0.5 Italian, bespoke wall and ceiling lighting installations were designed to not only emit ambient lighting but also function as decorative pieces.  These were fashioned from industrial copper pipes and fitted with filament light bulbs.  The copper pipes were also applied to the custom-made railing divider at the group seating area. 

With the aim of softening the hard and cooler materials, open ceiling wooden fins and a partial wood plank floor finish were added.  As a final touch, modern blue checks were chosen as the banquette fabric within the group seating for that extra panache.