Ikibana Paral Restaurant is a 2,800 square foot contemporary restaurant in Barcelona. It was designed by El EquipoCreativo, an architectural firm from Spain, and it was completed last year with a fascinating combination of Spanish and Japanese influences. It is quirky, it is unique, and it is definitely a must-see.
When you first think about it, the two cultures don’t seem to have anything in common. While the Spanish are exuberant and passionate, the Japanese are rather quiet and prefer minimalism. This is where the architects’ greatest challenge came from: they had to find some common ground, a feature that both cultures shared and which could become the main element around which the project would be developed.
After a little research, the team found that landscapes were very appreciated in Brazil and in Japan alike, so they decided to create a beautiful indoor landscape for the restaurant. A wonderful combination of wood, leaves and flowers dominates the décor, with the main protagonist being a stylized forest of intertwining branches. The lighting system is cleverly devised to shed rays and shadows through these branches over the entire space.
The same play of light and shadows is then repeated through the display windows, which hold the green (vegetal) element of the design. They create a smooth visual transition from inside to outside and the other way around. Finally, the floral element is represented by the petal-shaped tables and their very colorful patterns. This entire concept has been so carefully designed that we couldn’t have come up with a better and more fitting name for the restaurant than “Ikibana”.
