This Houston restaurant, designed by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, takes cues from Japanese farmhouses, using timber and tiling to create a companionable atmosphere.
The sunken hearths that are the focal point of many rural homes in Japan were the starting point for the design team, who have created a scaled-up version of one of these for Uchiko Houston – the sister restaurant for Tyler Cole’s original.
Instead of being placed on the ground, the hearth has been turned into a reception area, framed by a partition wall made of latticed wooden beams, and with blue tiling and painting that nods to Japanese visual culture.
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Photography: Chase Daniel
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Photography: Chase Daniel
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Photography: Chase Daniel
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Photography: Chase Daniel
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Photography: Chase Daniel
The theme continues elsewhere in the Houston restaurant, which owes its welcoming ambience to an abundance of wooden beams and flooring, leather and wood dining furniture, and globe-shaped pendants covered in a cast concrete shield.
The overall feeling is one of warmth, emphasised by the blue wallpaper and hand-painted mural that lines Uchiko’s walls and ceiling. Bigger parties can reserve the chef’s table, which sits beneath a theatrical, fringed light fitting.
1801 Post Oak Blvd Suite 110, Houston, TX 77056, USA
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