The World Interior of the Year award goes to a flexible noodle bar concept in Beijing

The Pang Mei Noodle Bar LFS in Beijing by Office AIO has been named the winner of this year’s World Interior of the Year award as part of the World Architecture Festival and INSIDE World Festival of Interiors.

The project was lauded as a "playful design" that enhances interaction within the streetscape while matching its client’s intentions toward a rotational daily menu and layout, which also changes throughout the day to facilitate different operational needs.

Its facade’s roller shutter feature acts as the key to the eatery's transformation, closing during off-peak hours for faster service and remaining open during the daytime rush to expand for full table service. Another central component to the concept is a linear corridor located allowing for the delivery of quick 'grab-and-go' orders, beset with double-sided window seats that take advantage of the arterial walkway and grant an exposure of the courtyard.

The firm also created custom furnishings to populate its design. Further on, a stainless-steel superstructure extends outward from the facade and above the bi-fold windows, creating what was finally hailed as a "monumental yet playful presence inside the complex."

Judges of the World Interior category said collectively: "This project is an essay in clever design applied to a successful noodle bar business. Its exciting vocabulary of soft walls, roller shutters and cramped tables and chairs capitalizes on the real star, the food. When less busy, dining is confined to the inside, but at busy times it spills onto the street beneath a chunky glass and steel canopy. A veritable machine for dining that ticks all the boxes – for its customers, its staff and its owners."