Morimoto Restaurant by Tadao Ando
When the Chef Masharu Morimoto decided to make his New York solo debut in 2006 with the opening of a restaurant, famous architect Tadao Ando was chosen to design the new Morimoto Restaurant.
The stoic steel façade is highlighted with an archway and the largest traditional Japanese noren curtain ever created to welcome guests.
The bi-level restaurant is separated into a 160-person seated dining area and a 40 person lounge in the lower level. Ando achieves a Zen-like serenity throughout the space by using glass privacy walls between tables, rice paper walls, and an organic ceiling that resembles the raked sand of Eastern rock gardens.
I really like the “bottle wall” composed of 17,400 half-liter plastic bottles, filled with mineral water and LED point lighting, producing a backlit shimmery effect. Impressive.
I have eaten here and I have some mixed reviews about the space. I believe Karim Rashid did the interiors of the space and it is well laid out.
The wall of water bottles is cool and was an installation done by the former head of Raphael Vinoly’s model shop. The bottles are actaully held together with what amounts to fishing wire. Also, the lounge bar is made of an interesting material that emits a soft glow.
My only problem with the space is that the restaurant seems to use cheaper materials that do not necessarily correspond to the menu prices. The seats and stools in particluar aren’t comfortable.