Dobre architects have created a luxuriously brutal interior for Ronin, a restaurant of pan-Asian cuisine in Minsk.
Dobre’s well-travelled and sophisticated client commissioned them to create a loft interior combining traditional and luxury elements.
The key concept of Ronin was to keep all of the constructivist elements – its brutal shapes – and work with these features to create a cohesive interior. The new design elements were all supplied and created in collaboration with local Belarusian industry professionals.
The design brief requested a brutal, elegant and modern restaurant interior with traditional elements; an interior that would impress, an interior that Minsk had never seen before. Dobre designed the restaurant based on contrasting simple materials: sophisticated stone and rough metal, brutal concrete and elegant glass.
Dobre’s main inspiration for this project was a result of a trip to London the year before, where they admired how boldly British architects use constructivist details in interiors. They liked the mix of constructivist, classic and gothic to create unique spaces. Inside Ronin restaurant there are open mountings and chamfers, and metal pipes used to mount the lightning elements, combined with luxury stone and black screws in a white ceiling – all of this is influenced by a London architectural style.
Dobre grinded the concrete and metal to show off constructivist elements and rough shapes of the building, and introduced wood, natural stone and glass. This combination makes the interior look modern and unique while remaining traditional. The studio also made careful material selections in order to ensure longevity, including special chamfers that have become signature element of their studio projects.
When entering the restaurant, one of the design features that stands out is the lighting. The Dobre team designed bespoke glass lampshades recreating the shape of water bubbles and long linear lamps features – one of them reaching eight metres in length. For all of the lighting elements a system of angle mounting was created that makes the space more airy without dividing it with expected vertical lines.
While designing the restaurant, Dobre understood the importance of making the space comfortable for both the customers and the staff. Ronin has an open kitchen concept and they provide a delivery service; to support this element, a long bar counter was installed for sushi masters and to make an accessible walk way for orders.
Dividing the space by six columns allowed the studio to create two bar counters with a main line of tables located near the window with a view of the park. To avoid the customer queues there are three restrooms in the restaurant, and to make customers comfortable in rainy weather the main facade line was moved to create a new spacious doorstep.
Dobre’s favorite detail is a wooden wall stylized with traditional Belarusian ornaments – you can find these signs on drawings and clothes of ancient Belarusians.
Ronin restaurant is an extraordinary architectural space; it’s a cocktail of Belarusian and Japanese design, loft and constructivist style, filled with unexpected luxury elements.
W: dobre.design | IG: @dobre.design
Interior Styling by Yulia Mamedava | IG: @yulia_mamedava
Photography by Egor Piaskovsky | W: egorpiaskovsky.com
