Deesa, Gujarat    2016 – 2017

Saraswati Restaurant is an institution in the old town of Deesa. The story of its impeccable food reached far and wide, fueled by the fumes of bubbling puris in cast iron pots, and mouthwatering bataka nu shaak made from only the choicest of potatoes. For the past 50 years it has served the market town and its surrounding farmers a delectable set of dishes often at an astonishing rate of 3000 people per day in a space that seats 24 at a time.  We helped them celebrate their anniversary by renovating their aging space. 

In the spirit of their menu's streamlined simplicity, the design is anchored on a cleansing of the space, to create a single, open room where once there were two along a passage. To do this, a load bearing wall is replaced with a steel column and beams that that double as a junction for intermediate storage in service. The combination of increased occupiable volume with a robust, sturdy granite led to the blurred lines between definitive functions, and amalgamated a unison of storage within structure, furniture within space, food within sanctuary.

Now, as cartesian void, demarcated by stone, melts away to its fluid counterparts, the farmer still finds himself juxtaposed between the urban chaos of the abutting street and a place of appetising repose.