Co-Hanh

Co-Hanh’s interior design is inspired by the vibe, hustle and bustle of street life of Vietnam, particularly the busy streets of Hồ Chí Minh.

Architects and interior designers ElvinTan explored the organised chaos of Vietnamese streets for inspiration in order to create a unique dining experience for Co-Hanh, a Vietnamese eatery and cocktail bar in Flinders Lane, Melbourne.

Here are the details, constraints, opportunities, and other considerations architects and interior designers ElvinTan grappled with as they designed this hospitality interior.

Brief: Authentic Vietnamese street food vibe re-imagined in a contemporary context.
Constraints: Authentic street vibe without theming, especially in new built site.
Opportunities: The generously wide street frontage creates an opportunity for the interior to become part of the street, blurring the lines between interior and exterior, and providing an opportunity for street activation.
Spatial Planning: Form follows function. ElvinTan created an open and versatile layout within the long and narrow tenancy, creating a layout that can evolve over time to suit the client’s emerging business needs.
Budget: A tight budget led ElvinTan to chose impactful and bold colours, complimented with a striking lighting design, to create a unique, fun, and memorable space with its own identity and street appeal.
Flexible Layout: An open plan layout was required to allow different dining configurations that were likely to change over time.
Uniquely Co-Hanh: Evocative spaces with a touch of Vietnam were called for. The architect’s vision was to encapsulate the brand through an interior that was unique and authentic.
Efficiency: A layout that creates an efficient work flow between the kitchen, bar, and show kitchen, with a dedicated space for food delivery pickup.
Experience: Co-Hanh was designed to indulge the nostalgia for old-time Vietnam in a contemporary setting.

To create the desired illusion, ElvinTan collaborated with Lighting Spaces.

Lighting Spaces design made the room appear more spacious, hard boundaries disappear, and allowed a continuous canvas to appear.

The final design successfully recreated the vibe, hustle, and bustle of Vietnam’s vibrant and chaotic street life to deliver a fun and lively dining experience.

Project Details

Project size – 160 m2

Completion date – 2019

Building levels – 1

Project Team

Interior Design

ElvinTan

ElvinTan is a multi-disciplinary studio, based in Melbourne Australia. They craft spaces that are fun, fresh and surprising, working on projects of all scope and scale in hospitality, residential and commercial.

www.elvintan.com.au

Photography

Christine Wood

Christine is a commercial photographer specialising in documenting projects for architects, builders, interior designer, and venues in the hospitality industry.

www.christinewood.com.au