Hiba Restaurant PITSOU KEDEM ARCHITECTS

TEL AVIV One of the challenges for restaurant design, believes jury member Sara Duffy –principal, interiors division at Stonehill Taylor – is to offer a high-design experience that’s still welcoming and warm. ‘I personally don’t want to be in a situation that feels cold and bleak. The use of materiality is so important, because in a restaurant you’re sitting for two or three hours and experiencing those materials.’

Pitsou Kedem Architects answered the call with Tel Aviv restaurant Hiba, where natural materials like oak wood, concrete and granite prevail. ‘I think there’s a new sense of awareness about tactility and natural materials,’ said Larry Traxler, senior vice president of Hilton Hotels and Resorts’ global design services. ‘People are looking for a connection to nature, whether it be through materials or by blurring lines between indoors and out.’

The use of natural materials for the interior reflects the restaurant’s focus on local, raw ingredients, which are prepared in the open kitchen in front of diners – a gesture that brings fine dining down to earth. This correlation between food and space was of great importance to the jury: Worldesignteam design director Guillermo Blanco and Ester Bruzkus Architekten partner Peter Greenberg both highlighted the need for restaurant interiors to ‘be appropriate for’ and ‘merge with’ the food being prepared. pitsou.com

‘The materials are very well balanced,’ said jury member and Worldesignteam design director Guillermo Blanco, adding that anything visitors see or touch contributes to a welcoming and cosy dining experience.

No matter what time of day it is, said jury member Vincent Zhang, founder and design director at Stylus Studio Zhang, Valle San Nicolás ‘looks very harmonious, like it’s part of the nature’.

Entertainment Venue of the Year

SANTA TERESA TILOXTOC Tucked in a new residential development in Mexico’s Valle de Bravo region, the Valle San Nicolás clubhouse and water-skiing lake was commended by our jury for the way it is integrated in its surroundings. Born from an investigation into the site’s conditions, the design by Sordo Madaleno ensures that the natural course of rainwater runoff is uninterrupted. The roof is designed in such a way that water falls directly into the central lake, where it is purified and reused.

Many jury members mentioned the circular floor plan, which offers space for social and wellbeing programming while providing near-360º views of the landscape. AW² partner Stephanie Ledoux saw the circle as a symbol of bringing strangers together, whereas Sara Duffy – principal, interiors division at Stonehill Taylor –loved the idea of using the shape to force people to walk around the water, making them interact with the building in a certain way.

CV Design and Brands director Carlos Virgile referred to the project’s ‘limited’ interior design. ‘A stronger interior could have enhanced the experience without interfering with the driving concept of integration.’ sordomadaleno.com