Restaurant

Role: Design Architect @ ACA
Location: Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
Client: Private
Year: 2026
Status: Built
Size: Undisclosed
Contractor: InsideOUT
Furniture Consultant: DCC Italian taste design
Photographer: Lakshmi Harilela @ Love True Light
Program: Restaurant

An Underwater Journey to the Adriatic Coast, LucAle is not a design about stereotypes; it is a story about a specific place. The concept was born from a personal connection: the founders, Luca and Alessandro, and I all hail from different regions along Italy’s Adriatic Coast. Though our origins vary, the sea that binds them is the same. This shared heritage became the project’s soul.

I wanted to immerse diners in a sensory memory of the Adriatic to make them feel as though they are underwater. Handcrafted ceramic panels ripple across the walls as if they were seabeds made of small, colorful shells that are very common in the Adriatic and which form the backdrop to schools of sea fish. Meanwhile the custom “Manta” and “I Lucci” chandeliers evoke marine life, their shadows dancing like sunlight filtering through water. The geometric blue-and-white patterns reference the iconic “bagni” (beach huts) that line the shore, and the wood panel textures in the restrooms recall the feeling of wet sand.

Light is the true architectural material here. It sculpts the space, creating an intimate journey from front to back, always ensuring the vibrant food is perfectly framed by the dark, contrasting tabletops. The design is essential and honest, no clichés, no over-decoration. By embracing constraints like a recessed entrance and an exposed ceiling, we created a space that speaks for itself.

Ultimately, LucAle transports you to a specific, personal memory: of childhood summers on the Adriatic, where the sun, sea, and sand meet.