Falken Reynolds

Named for the original restaurant tenant of the 90-year-old Chin Wing Chun Society building at 158 East Pender Street, Vancouver, Sai Woo seeks balance between past and present, with its historic Chinatown address and modern menu informing the interiors.

Symbolic allusions are made throughout the two-level, 188-seat restaurant and bar. Hexagonal mosaic tile by the bar and Persian ironwood trees throughout are inspired by the nearby Dr. Sun Yat-Sen garden. An uninterrupted corridor from the front entrance to the back kitchen and intersecting lines on the bar shelving and chair backs reference the railway—a way of honouring the role Chinese immigrants played in constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway. Invoking contemporary Vancouver, there are design elements from renowned local designers— Niels Bendtsen’s Torii chairs and Lukas Peet’s Button lights—and the marbled Caesarstone used on the counter, bar and basement washrooms were repurposed from an exhibit Falken Reynolds designed for the Fall 2014 Interior Design Show West.