Promotion: Chinese architecture practice Studio8 has renovated the interior of a 1930s villa in Hangzhou, China, transforming it into a hotpot restaurant and cocktail bar that celebrates the building's history.
The Gud restaurant and bar includes a roof terrace, dining space on the upper floors and bar on the ground floor.
The 496-square-metre space occupies a three-storey building that was built in 1939, as well as a later-built extension and the ground floor of an adjacent property.
Antique hotpots are displayed throughout the interior
Although the villa had previously undergone a number of renovations, when designing the restaurant Studio8 aimed to maintain the building's original features, including the street-facing facade.
Service areas, including the kitchen, restroom and staircase, are located in the extension and adjacent building, leaving the full space of the historic villa for restaurant dining and the cocktail bar. The cocktail bar features red velvet seating
The Gud restaurant specialises in hotpots, which lead Studio8 to study the culture of the cuisine and introduce aspects of it into the interior design, creating a "museum-like experience".
The project's design was informed by three stages of making and experiencing hotpots ? the heat from the fire that cooks it, water as the main medium of the food, and the elevation of the flavour coming from the steam.
Studio8 used the themes of "heat, medium and elevation of flavour" to influence th...