Maths designs wood-panelled BAO City restaurant with "moody cinematic feel"

Sculptural light fixtures, glossy materials and deep red hues define BAO City in London, which also features karaoke rooms informed by Taipei, New York and Tokyo.

BAO London's in-house design studio Maths aimed to create an intimate wood-panelled space for the restaurant and took design cues from its location in the City of London.

"For inspiration, we looked at a lot of old-school whisky and karaoke bars in Taiwan, New York and Tokyo," Maths designer Priscilla Wong told Dezeen. "Many of these were located in the heart of the financial district."

"They encapsulated luxury and indulgence but balanced with a sense of intimacy and cosiness."

To create the right atmosphere, the designer lined the restaurant with glossy cherry wood, which contrasts against the darker walnut wood used on the banquettes.

"The karaoke and whisky bars we looked at had this precision with their material palettes," Wong said. "They struck the perfect balance between seedy and luxurious, playful without being too kitsch, elegant and refined without being cold."

"It's hard to pinpoint but the spaces felt balanced and this was what we tried to create."

Maths used white quartz for the restaurant's low tables and black lacquered oak for its high tabletops, while the furniture was clad in red and white leather.

Above the booths, curved lighting fixtures add a sculptural detail and a sense of intimacy. The temperature and brightness of the lights can be adjusted throughout the day to create the right feel for the space.

"The main dining area is quite big compared to most of our other sites," Wong explained. "We wanted to ensure the space still felt immersive but introduce the moody, cinematic feel that our mood board depicted."

"A large light feature was something we landed on quite early in the design process; it was a case of exploring the form and how it impacted the dining experience," she added.

"The light fixtures hover over the two banquette areas to create the sense of enclosure and the curved form introduces a softness to the space."

Different shades of red were used throughout BAO City, where the booths were clad in red leather and the walls painted oxblood.

"We wanted to introduce a sense of playfulness to the material palette through colour," Wong said. "Red suited the energy of the space, but it was a case of finding the right shade of red."

"There are two reds in the space: the wall is painted in an indulgent oxblood red, which is then punctuated with the primary red lining of the whisky shelf."

On either side of BAO City's main room, Maths added a karaoke bar as the restaurant is BAO's flagship karaoke television (KTV) location.

The two rooms are named Taipei and New York and were inspired by "lonely" films.

"All our KTV rooms are inspired by 'lonely' films," Wong said. "The BAO definition of loneliness is fluid, it is about self-reflection, slowness and scale."

"The filmic moments that we select are created by filmmakers, who we consider masters of cinema."

The larger Taipei room draws on director Edward Yang's 1985 drama Taipei Story.

"There is a scene in the film where the two protagonists are standing below an old school Fujifilm billboard – the two shadowy figures are diminished by the scale of the signage," Wong said.

"We recreated this moment by constructing a large LED screen in the room and worked with Taiwanese artists Lee Yung Chih and Yi Xuan Lu to create a bespoke BAO billboard for the space."

The New York karaoke room, meanwhile, references director Oliver Stone's film Wall Street, in another nod to finance-district design.

"It is a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of an 80s board room, where the ceiling light panels flood the room red when it is in KTV mode," Wong said.

The layout of BAO City was designed so that all diners can peek into the karaoke rooms when visiting.

"Our guests who come to dine with us will catch glimpses of the KTV rooms and it will pique their interest – the frosted window looking into the New York room, dancing red lights reflecting off the 'billboard' screen in the Taipei room," Wong said. "The design tries to nurture a sense of curiosity."

Previous BAO London interiors featured on Dezeen include a space modelled on Taiwanese dumpling shops and a King's Cross restaurant designed by Macaulay Sinclair.

The photography is by Ollie Tomlinson.

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