Nari Thai Restaurant

This project was executed by Caroline Nassif while she was a Project Architect at Lundberg Design. As Project Architect, Caroline spearheaded the design, documentation, materials selection, and construction administration for the project.

(SAN FRANCISCO | 2019)

Tucked away on the ground floor of San Francisco’s Hotel Kabuki, Nari is a project that borrowed its design direction from the owner’s personal background. Pim Techamuanvivit grew up enjoying the home-cooked meals created by the women in her family. When she moved to the United States, she realized that in order to enjoy the meals from her childhood, rather than the Americanized fare found at most Thai restaurants, she would have to learn how to cook the food herself. After forging great success at Kin Khao (her Michelin star rated restaurant in downtown San Francisco), she approached us to design a new restaurant and bar that honors the women in her life who taught and inspired her. Nari, meaning women in Thai, is her homage to this legacy. Our design was focused on uncovering the clerestory windows and fluted concrete columns in the existing space and letting plants overtake the interior in a post-apocalyptic garden. The goal was to employ a materials palette that felt modern, bright, and joyful while hearkening back to the comfort Pim felt visiting her grandparents’ homes in Thailand.

A screen of planted vines along the dining room’s glass wall perimeter was installed to invite curiosity from the elevated sidewalk outside while providing a screen of privacy for diners on the restaurant’s interior. The mezzanine walls and ceilings below were clad in engineered teak wood reclaimed from abandoned houses in Thailand. Circular booths and seating nooks offer a variety of intimate experiences within the expansive double-height space.