Shangri La East Restaurant

East, Colorado Springs, CO

Summary

Shangri-La East was created from the shell of an existing American wine bar and restaurant and redesigned with Asian design elements to create a new modern take on classic Chinese cuisine. The proposed design element was to reflect the name of the restaurant, Shangri La (which means a beautiful imaginative place on earth) with minimal construction costs to meet the client’s budget.

Framework of Success Criteria for Design:

New kitchen equipment layout to fit the new menu and meeting the requirements from El Paso County health department
New light fixtures
Custom banquette seating
Custom metal wine rack
Resurface the existing concrete floor
Retrofit gas line to accommodate new wok cooking station
Retrofit power to accommodate the ventless dishwasher

Challenges

The existing restaurant was poorly designed, particularly the kitchen space (with minimal storage & prep areas) with the previous restaurant serving limited cooked products. This was a major challenge to resolve with minimal construction retrofits required by the owner to meet their budget and TI tenant improvement timeline.

Issues to be resolved:

Existing kitchen space was poorly designed and not enough room for storage
Electrical wires were exposed throughout the space
Cracked concrete floor throughout the space
Gas line was not sufficient to accommodate the new wok cooking equipment
Tight budget
Tight construction timeline

How Our Services Helped

With the tight timeline and budget given by the owner, TAM Interiors developed a plan of action to reuse all existing plumbing and electrical power with minimal construction alteration. To add character to the interior design elements, we hired a local fabricator to custom build the banquet seating and the metal wine rack. Modern large Asian pendants and simple wall sconce light fixtures were selected to accentuate the simple design, and the final touch of the mural artwork done by a local artist.