This Pune rooftop restaurant Tsuki crafted by Keith Menon, principal designer of Spiro Spero, celebrates calm with a Zen garden. Peppered with foliage, the solar-powered Asian restaurant Tsuki features a skylight, macramé chandeliers, and a ceiling made of fireproof canvas. “The client Dishant Pritamani didn’t want it to be a clinical Asian space with standardised retrofitted interiors. Also, Pune has great weather, and the idea was to capitalise on the open space in a way that it could work for all seasons. The result – Tsuki,” shares Keith.
There’s a certain Zen-like tranquillity that descends upon you when you enter this 60-seater Asian rooftop restaurant at Koregaon Park. On the face of it, there is much going on – high ceilings, furniture made from reclaimed teak and sheesham wood, a bar, plants (both big and small), chandeliers made of macramé and a skylight that illuminates the solar-powered restaurant.
However, all the elements come together in a wonderful harmony in the Zen Garden. The muted and minimal tones of the restaurant certainly play their part in elevating the foliage and highlighting the greenery, and other design elements. The idea was always to have a paler space; something that seemed like it’s been there forever and you’ve only discovered it now.
In keeping with the natural pale look of the space, we have tried to ensure that all base colours of fabrics were neutral. We have used a lot of two tone screen printed fabrics with leaf and floral patterns. Ideally, when you look at how the furniture and fabrics are spread over the space, you will see each blending into another as if it is part of the foliage.
The sustainability factor runs deep in the philosophy of the restaurant. It is not only the restaurant that is solar powered; we have also made use of reclaimed teak and sheesham wood to create the furniture. Water hyacinth reed lamps which are neither too large, nor too obtrusive blend in with the natural tones of the space. We used a lot of macramé to make the two chandeliers over the private dining area. It blends with the use of fabric in the ceiling and adds a softness and warmth to those sections.
When you have a restaurant named Tsuki – meaning the moon in Japanese – it only makes sense to have the diner open to the sky to let it bask in the moonlight – or sunlight – as need be. The skylight at the centre of the restaurant allows the space to breathe. Being able to see the sky, the light pouring in and moving at different angles as the sun rises and sets or even a glimpse of the moon – all of that adds to the charm of the space.
The 2,000 square feet space accommodates a bar, a live kitchen, washrooms and seating for around 60 diners, and yet, the Zen Garden gives it a sense of space that makes one pause in the pathway, just to feel the tranquility. While we knew this was going to be a space filled with long meals and a lot of chatter, we wanted to create a space that would break it all up; completely declutter the entire space, and make it feel open and inviting.
The skylight, of course, is the cherry on top. Without the skylight, the Zen Garden would not look half as pretty.
With Pune summers being a scorcher and the fact that there would be Yakitori being made at regular intervals, the designer’s initial plan of creating a hay and reed roof – which would be highly inflammable – was dropped for a more practical one.
After sampling a few fabrics, we chose canvas for the roof. The fabric gave us just what we were looking for. The entire roof has 4,000 meters of fabric that had to be custom-manufactured and came to us in lots. Each 100 meter roll had to be hand-cut one inch wide and 40 inches long and then stitched to place on a curtain rod.
Not just that, the shredded roll was individually sprayed and soaked with clear fire retardant solution. We used about 2000 curtain rods to get the density we wanted. It took us over four months and 10 people working on it every day to get it done. In the end, we’re thrilled as it brings the whole space together really well.
FACT FILE:
Name of Project : Tsuki
Project Type: Hospitality
Location: Pune
Site Area: 2500 sqft.
Design Firm : Spiro Spero
Principal Designer : Keith Menon
Design Team: Mehzabin Khakhariawala, Abdeali Jamali, Sagar Pawar, Deepika Malik, Karan Unadkat
Photographer: Ritesh Ramaiah