Light Years Diner explores tonality and texture in its design

Light Years Asian Diner is an exploration of tonality, texture, and threshold: honest materiality and playful gradients were central in capturing the famed local personality of the restaurant, cuisine, cocktail, and waitstaff. Studio Plenty teamed up with Sarah Ellison to achieve this bold concept; an elevated departure from the restaurant’s humble beginnings.

Studio Plenty was approached by the Light Years team to design an expansion and renovation of their original restaurant in Byron Bay – a fun fit-out that had served them in their humble formative years.

GALLERY

The ensuing project brief was to capture the famed playful personality of Light Years, to refine and elevate the brand to a new plane. The brand’s sister venues all exhibited common thematic characters, but it would be the Byron location that would be the jewel in the crown.

In what appears to be an overtly playful scene, undertones of sensibility are threaded through a series of dining and interstitial spaces; tonal and textural gradients, material thresholds, and quaint openings give each space a distinct spatial identity. The dining experience is defined by the character of each localized composition but ultimately observed as a holistic theme, harmonized as a complete continuum. It was in collaboration with Sarah Ellison that the theme was complimented as a furniture concept, her mastery of tactility, simplicity, and rational design was immense in achieving a successful outcome.

Praised for its warmth, cosiness, and intimacy, Light Years Byron Bay has been described as ‘being in the womb’, a product of its daring concept to explore tones, textures, and thresholds. Studio Plenty has asserted a bold and coherent concept in a small-town context, challenging the norm and opening the door for innovation. Studio Plenty implemented commonplace sustainable practices such as hard-wearing material finishes to ensure an enduring fit-out, maintaining high ceilings to maximize natural light, and ensuring natural ventilation for patron comfort and air quality. Where this project shows its vigour is in its determination to remain locally grounded: collaborating with local furniture designer Sarah Ellison and local artist Studio of the Sun. An integrated design process that engages local talent allows the design to be positively influenced by threads of local culture and context, which inevitably form part of the fabric experienced by patrons.

Images by Jessie Prince via ArchDaily