3110NZ: Snarkitecture’s Quest For the Unknown

A unique dining experience within an art gallery; Snarkitecture made it happen. The New York-based collaborative design practice recently completed the design for 3110NZ by LDH kitchen, which is a new cultural destination in Tokyo. Throughout the day 3110NZ operates as an outpost of Nanzuka, one of Tokyo’s leading contemporary art galleries run by Shinji Nanzuka, while by night, space transforms into a highly regarded omakase restaurant by Takashi Saito of Sushi Saito, recipient of three Michelin stars.

The aim of this initiative was to create a discreet exterior respectful of the surroundings -a quiet residential neighborhood of Nakameguro- while invoking curiosity about the experience within. The design for the 3110NZ facade emerged from a concept that inserted a solid volume into the corner location, out of which the exterior openings and interior spaces were excavated. This direction inspired the form of the custom oak front door and backlit portholes, which appear to have been carved from the hand-troweled cementitious facade.

The inside of the space, the excavated forms on the exterior are applied to the dining area and gallery walls, with the niches in the latter providing a series of illuminated caverns to display works of art. Overhead, a stretched scrim washes a uniform glow over the space and imbues a sense of calm.

The name ‘Snarkitecture’ draws inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of The Snark, a poem describing the ‘impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature’. It is 3110NZ that we find the same poetry as the origin of their name, a search for the unknown, and a conceptual approach. A practice that is based on the unknown, and creates unexpected and memorable moments that invite people to explore and engage with their surroundings.