Hattusa II

Hattusa Restaurant | Sevenoaks, UK

Hattusa, located in Sevenoaks just outside of London, UK, is an Anatolian restaurant named for the Bronze Age Middle Eastern culture of the Hittites whose war scenes & language brought today by extraordinary rock carvings.

The design brief aimed to bring that monolithic visual impression of the rocks to the restaurant with the traditional Anatolian crafts to create a contemporary interior.

The task was to present these historical carvings and a salvaged hand carved ceiling piece within a environment which is enriched by laser cut panels that reflects a Hittite pattern. As the today’s materials and CNC technologies failed to create the feeling of the carvings, raw clay & real carving were re-employed on walls and the hand made ceiling piece framed with the mesh panels.

Upon entering the restaurant, one steps out of England and into Anatolia through the hand crafted objects and the clay carved walls.

The space embraces tradition and history while remaining true to the contemporary time and utilising the craft of ‘carving’ in the natural clay has created a warm, earthy and sophisticated restaurant interior which tells the story of the Hittites who created the first peace treaty ever, in world history.