pop-up ‘lonely noodle’ restaurant in shanghai seats diners in immersive one-person booths
diners enjoy their meals in one-person booths encircling a center stage with live nightly 'blind box show' performances.
j&dragon group’s pop-up restaurant in china heals loneliness
J&Dragon Group’s ‘Lonely Noodle Shop’ is a themed pop-up restaurant in Shanghai, China, which creates an immersive and soothing dining experience for the ‘lonely’ people of the city. Through a bold fusion of light, color, and a bowl of noodles, the restaurant offers a time and space to heal the urban phenomena of loneliness and social anxiety in the late hours of the night. The concept offers diners an opportunity to enjoy a meal in the comfort of their own company enclosed within a private one-person booth, while simultaneously enjoying collective live entertainment with other diners.
a minimalist and immersive dining experience defined by light
Open only late from 8pm to 2am, the pop-up restaurant ‘Lonely Noodle Shop’ iterates its slogan: ‘Give yourself a bowl of noodles to take a break from reality.’ Beginning the journey, the team at J&Dragon Group intersperse the store façade with polished metal scaffolding clad with luminous light strips, creating a small spatial constraint that evokes a psychological response and sets the stage for the oncoming journey. Stepping into the main space, a series of illuminated meandering lines gradually guide visitors into their assigned rooms, in ‘a dimly lit journey that, between light and shadow, immerses the body and mind in the anticipation of the next journey.’
A curved revolving door marks the transition from the dimly lit corridor to the eating area. As the door opens, the lights turn on, revealing a self-contained one-person booth enlivened with a healing green tone coating the surfaces. Within the booth, a fusion of light, music and color completely engulfs the space and the diner’s body and mind. Ahead of the table, a screen initially displays an emotionally evocative greeting, followed by a culminating immersive experience of the ‘Blind Box Show’ performed live nightly at the centre stage beyond. In a distinct design, the singular compartments encircle the stage, allowing diners to enjoy their meals in privacy and comfort, while collectively enjoying the entertainment.
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project info:
name: Lonely Noodle Shop
designer: J&Dragon Group
location: TX Huaihai, Shanghai, China
area: 138 square meters
design director: Jason Chan
chief designer: Ella
interior design: Xiao Lei, A Bao
designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions’ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
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