Last year, Clap Studio was contacted to design the first bao restaurant in their hometown of Valencia, Spain. The restaurant partners have traveled throughout Asia, America, and Africa and dreamed up creating the first home-delivered, artisanal bao company. After launching, they wanted to open an actual restaurant and Baovan was born. The colorful, light-hearted design references all of the partners’ love of surfing and exploration.
Clap Studio was tasked with translating Baovan’s tag line “Beers, beach, and baos” into the restaurant in order to make patrons feel as if they were transported to the beach to watch the sunset while enjoying their baos.
The space is separated into three areas that users discover as they walk through the interior. From the exterior, the visitor enters “the forest” with “ropes” hanging from the ceiling that represent dense vegetation. Past the forest, the patron arrives at the beach with the sunset. The last space is hidden as a reserved dining area for up to 10 people to eat in the moonlight.
Each space presents a duality of colors designed to visually take visitors in and out of the water.
The beach area features a half-moon shaped screen that’s programmed by Vitamin Studio to recreate the colors found in a sunset. Above, a blanket of clouds add a magical layer, reflecting the lights of the sunset as they shift.
Photos by Daniel Rueda.
