PENG DUMPLINGS RESTAURANT & BAR, BASEL
Realisation November 2019 - October 2020
Direct commission
Client Luma Konzept AG
Client representative JPEV GmbH
Awards
"Die Schönsten Restaurants & Bars 2022", Special Mention
German Design Award 2023, Excellent Architecture, Interior Architecture, Special Mention
Team: Markus Stern, Marco Zürn, Andrea Tumova, Marius Mühleisen
In collaboration with Emma Thomas Landscape, Photography Maris Mezulis, Scherler Elektroplanung,
Bad & Konzept, Jauslin Stebler Ingénieur & Bauphysik, A+F Brandschutz, 4Spaces
A [ 鵬 ] Peng is a hybrid creature in chinese mythology - a bird that transforms from a fish - and is the eponym of the restaurant and bar Peng Dumplings in Basel.
Dumplings are small chinese dough wrapped fillings, handmade with seasonal ingredients and steamed in bamboo baskets. This classical chinese speciality is interpreted by the chef Peter Luk from Hongkong with international and swiss influences.
Peng Basel is itself a hybrid creature. The space is split in half by a corridor with dining on the left rendered in white and bar to the right in black thus creating two distinct atmospheres in the same location. Automated sliding doors serve as a gate between one and the other world.
The former restaurant space was upgraded according to the latest standards with simple plaster walls, a concrete floor and new acoustical measures. Circular vienna-woven room dividers allow for different seating privacy levels from banquet to tête-à-têtes.
In the backyard, the former bakery was transformed to a manufacture with views to the kitchen. A large rooflight attracts people into the depth of the space and a green courtyard offers outdoor seating under the Ginko tree, surrounded by wild vines and jasmine plants. In summer, the vertical sliding windows can be opened for take-away facing the streetlife in Zwingerstrasse in Basels Gundeli quarter.
The motif of perforated bamboo steamers is taken as the DNA furniture element of the restaurant.
Large C-shaped food sharing tables enable the waiters to enter and provide a personal face to face service to the customer and explain the wrapped dumpling dishes. These C-tables can alternatively function as traditional turning tables with a turning plate in the centre.
The custom furniture collection designed for the Peng brand is combining untreated and frequently soaped maple wood with smoked oak.
