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The Salt Room dining hall with timber furniture, warm lighting and planting along the walls.

Project 07 — Restaurant

The Salt Room

Ninety covers in a converted warehouse, where the only new material is the one you touch.

LocationGoa, India
Year2025
Area3,200 sq. ft.
Location
Goa, India
Area
3,200 sq. ft.
Type
Hospitality
Year
2025
Scope
Complete Interior + Furniture
Programme
8 months
§ 01 Project story

Ninety covers in a converted warehouse, where the only new material is the one you touch.

We left the shell alone. The existing brick, the trusses and the marks of forty years of storage are the room; everything we added is either soft, warm or at hand height — leather, oiled timber, brass, linen.

The challenge

A hard warehouse shell at ninety covers is unbearably loud. Acoustic treatment had to be invisible: the ceiling between the trusses is lined in a sprayed cellulose finish that matches the original lime wash to the eye and absorbs like a felt.

Spatial planning

Bar at the entrance to hold waiting covers away from the dining floor, two dining zones separated by a service spine, and a private room for sixteen carved out of the old loading bay.

Project team

Meera Anand, Devika Raghunath, Nikhil Sen

§ 02 The design Material palette

Five materials carry the whole project. Everything else is a variation on one of them.

Original BrickRetained shell
Oiled TeakFurniture and bar
CaneChair backs and screens
Tan LeatherBanquettes
Unlacquered BrassBar top and rails
§ 03 Room by room
01 — Bar

Bar

Brass top, unlacquered, so it will be a different colour in a year and better for it.

Bar at The Salt Room with bottles on timber shelving and warm downlighting.
Pl. 02Bar
02 — Dining

Dining

Two zones, separated by the service spine, so a full restaurant never feels like one crowd.

Dining room at The Salt Room with timber tables laid for service and guests seated.
Pl. 03Main dining
03 — Banquette

Banquette

Tan leather along the brick flank, deep enough to sit back in and low enough to see over.

Banquette seating at The Salt Room under a timber-lined ceiling.
Pl. 04Banquette flank
04 — Private room

Private room

Sixteen seats in the old loading bay, with the original steel door retained and pinned open.

Private dining room at The Salt Room set with glassware and upholstered chairs.
Pl. 05Private room
05 — Table

Table

The table setting is the lighting design. Each one carries its own lamp, and the room dims by the hour.

Table at The Salt Room laid with glassware under a warm table lamp.
Pl. 06Table setting
06 — Ceiling

Ceiling

Trusses retained and uplit. The absorbent lining between them is the only thing in the room that is not what it appears to be.

Ceiling structure and lighting above the dining room at The Salt Room.
Pl. 07Trusses
Custom furniture

Every table, chair and banquette in the restaurant was made for it. The chair is our own — solid teak, canework back, and a seat height 20 mm lower than standard because the tables are low too.

Lighting

Table lamps. Ninety covers lit almost entirely by fittings sitting on the tables themselves, topped up by uplight into the trusses.

§ 04 The plan 3,200 sq. ft., 90 covers
Fig. AIndicative zoning diagram — not a measured survey drawing.
Levels
1
Rooms
5
Orientation
North light through clerestory
Footprint
3,200 sq. ft., 90 covers
§ 05 Gallery Select an image to enlarge
The Salt Room dining hall with timber furniture, warm lighting and planting along the walls.
01The Salt Room — Restaurant
Bar at The Salt Room with bottles on timber shelving and warm downlighting.
02Bar
Dining room at The Salt Room with timber tables laid for service and guests seated.
03Main dining
Banquette seating at The Salt Room under a timber-lined ceiling.
04Banquette flank
Private dining room at The Salt Room set with glassware and upholstered chairs.
05Private room
Table at The Salt Room laid with glassware under a warm table lamp.
06Table setting
Ceiling structure and lighting above the dining room at The Salt Room.
07Trusses
Daylight across the dining tables at The Salt Room with planting along the window.
08Lunch service
Vault & Vine store interior with pale garments on open rails and a large plant at the centre.

Next project — 08

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