Maltese firm chosen to design new nature inspired, family restaurant within London’s royal Kew Gardens

Mizzi Studio has been selected to design a new family kitchen for Kew Gardens, sited directly beside their Children’s Garden – a verdant, natural setting that allows children to explore and play surrounded by the presence of earth, air, sun, and water

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Founded in 1840 and located in southwest London, Kew Gardens is a cultural icon, standing as a beloved ambassador for nature, education, and wellbeing. The gardens offer a space for leisure defined by greenery, air, colour, and joy.

Mizzi Studio has been selected to design a new family kitchen for the gardens, sited directly beside their Children’s Garden – a verdant, natural setting that allows children to explore and play surrounded by the presence of earth, air, sun, and water. The team received overwhelmingly positive scores and feedback following the tender process, which comprised entries from international architecture firms such as HOK. The tender panel was struck by Mizzi Studio’s holistic, nature-driven approach to the project brief.

The design offers food in a theatrical, nature-led, technology-driven setting. Comprising food preparation stations, dining areas and retail, the kitchen marries fantasy and nature with science, promoting education, wonder, organic dominance, food culture, and interactivity. Mizzi Studio has created a new space for families in London where natural oasis meets children’s laboratory.

A zoning approach within the restaurant follows the theme of the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter, with applicable colour stories, material texture and visual cues permeating into the different sections and seating throughout the kitchen.

Colours draw from the natural hues and tones of each season, functioning as both implicit wayfinding and playful décor. Diversity in material is used to reinforce the concept of enjoying nature through the seasons, with surfaces ranging from warm timbers to smooth glass and resins.

In keeping with Mizzi Studio’s signature style, biophilic and biomorphic design elements proliferate throughout the scheme. Specifically, the key seating arrangements are influenced by organic elements living in the natural world, including vegetables, fungi, and vibrant plant life.

The breadth of materials included within the scheme is wide and the impact of their tactile properties strong: from glass, to timber, to polished surfaces, each material has been chosen in accordance with a specific sensorial impact in mind.

With the capacity to host up to 150 diners, the Family Kitchen at Kew has been designed to support a variety in party size numbers, age, and physical ability.

Founded in 2011 by Maltese-British architect and designer, Jonathan Mizzi, Mizzi Studio is an award-winning architecture and design practice with studios in London and Malta. Working across a diverse range of disciplines, scales, and sectors, the studio seeks out projects that have a positive social and cultural impact.

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