I decided to check back on our friends over at KATA (the designers who started it all) to see what they were up to recently. It turns out that Public Diner, one of their most recent designs, opened just last month. And I’m happy to see it’s NOT a minimal concrete bldg.

At first I was really excited at the prospect of having such a cool space in Tokyo. Then I realized it was up in Saitama Prefecture.(GMAP) But nonetheless, the structure itself is quite charming.

In all his previous work Ichiro Katami has attempted to import western idealist styles (whether it be a Greenwich Village-style diner out of an Edward Hopper painting or a European church) and translate them into a unique yet amiable space for the hardworking Japanese to enjoy themselves. And his wooden cabin-like space definitely seems like a successful candidate.

images courtesy of Ichiro Katami