Ato Asian Experience & Garden

Clever use of contrasting colours and materials, light and reflections feature in the new ATO Asian Experience & Garden Japanese restaurant designed by sgsm studio at Casbeno, a district to the south of Varese, overlooking the lake of the same name. A distinctive location where art and nature merge attractively thanks to carefully designed elements and the skilful subdivision of the spaces in the various dining rooms. 

“We came up with the idea of a continuous ceiling, the linking feature and heart of the project, which consists of a densely packed series of curved wooden forms clad with reflective material, through which warm light filters to evoke the pattern of a forest interior, with its lights and shades,” the architects told us. Strong visual impact is provided by the elegant, sophisticated porcelain stoneware slabs Sodalite Blu from the Grande Marble Look collection, in 160x320 cm size, chosen for the walls of the restaurant’s dining rooms, the entrance and the toilets, which continue the light-dark interplay generated by the contrasting vein patterns.  The material chosen for the restaurant’s indoor floor and the walls behind the cash desk, and for the paving of the outdoor area, was the Carácter Mix Multicolor stone-effect porcelain stoneware collection, reinforced by the state-of-the-art StepWise anti-slip solution and the innovative Puro Marazzi Antibacterial technology, which combats the proliferation of harmful microorganisms and bacteria fast and effectively.

“We based our choice of coverings on our two design priorities: the clients’ request for a project in “natural” tones, with a balanced mix of inputs from art and nature, and our wish to re-establish a lost relationship between the building and its surroundings, which both show the strong stylistic influence of rationalist architecture. 

“We opted for glossy Marble Look Sodalite Blu large slabs to meet the need to create chromatic ‘events’ within the rooms, like real abstract paintings, while Carácter Mix Multicolor enabled us to link the project to the most ‘natural’ of the textures available, Ceppo di Gré stone,” the architects explained with regard to their choice of the Marazzi materials used in this project. In addition, the table tops were covered with the Allmarble collection in Golden White version, which reproduces exquisite types of marble in a delicate shade, to balance the blue of the walls. 


Ph. sgsm studio