coca grill restaurant reflects thai street food culture

‘coca grill’ by integrated field is a restaurant that reflects thai street food cultureimage © ketsiree wongwan

thai interior design company integrated field co.,ltd. has realized the interior for the ‘coca grill’ restaurant in lotus bangna, bangkok. since 1957, with the original hong kong taste ‘coca suki’ has became one of the most well-known suki restaurants in thailand. however, in 2012, coca holdings international co.,ltd. decided to expand on this ‘suki’ specialty and explore grilled food but still wanted to maintain the coca name to be recognized by customers – this is how the name ‘coca grill’ originated.

in the beginning of the design process, the studio looked back into coca history and looked for main protagonists throughout the journey as a way to inform the space and be used in the new brand of ‘coca grill’. through considering the history and culture of eating grilled food from the asian region, the design was developed to reflect this rich narrative. from this, references to asian street food began to develop – infusing the unique atmosphere and personality of a culture so unique to thailand.

manhole at the main entrance as features of streets  image © ketsiree wongwan

the feeling of an ‘indoor street’ was used as the main theme for the restaurant – incorporating features such as ‘street vendors’, ‘light signs on the street’, ‘street floor patterns’, ‘manholes’, ‘visible/open kitchen’ and ‘colorful chairs’. the interior color and lighting were important parts of the project also. several shades of grey as a background color of the restaurant refers to the color of unlighted charcoal, the main elements of grill cooking, and the light tone of the orange refers to the charcoal when alight. in addition, if proposed the set of equipment referenced terra-cotta, modified to suit the overall vernacular of the space.

in the beginning of the design process, the studio looked back into coca historyimage © ketsiree wongwan

references to asian street food were includedimage © ketsiree wongwan

the feeling of an ‘indoor street’ was used as the main theme for the restaurantimage © ketsiree wongwan

image © ketsiree wongwan

orange tone of lighting with the grey tone of table represent the tone of charcoal with fireimage © ketsiree wongwan

image © ketsiree wongwan

image © ketsiree wongwan

set of food containers with logoimage © ketsiree wongwan

floor plan

cross section : the vendor

project info:

location: lotus bangna, bangkok
owner: coca holdings international co.,ltd.
interior designer: integrated field co.,ltd.
lighting designer: kullakaln gururatana
ff&e: integrated field co.,ltd.
corporate identity: choochart nitijessadawong
main contractor: choice interiorsarea: 200 sq.m.
cost: 8,000,000 baht
design: 2012
completed: 2012

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