The recently completed Neobio Kids’ Restaurant in Shanghai is a pastel-hued world of balloon and cloud shapes that decorate the various activity areas.
The goal is to keep kids occupied long before and after they have finished their meals – a notion parents all over the world appreciate.
While the environment is decidedly for kids, the restaurant is also an adult-friendly place where parents will want to linger as well.
The 500 square-metre (5,382 sq.ft) restaurant was created by architect-designer Li Xiang and her team at X+Living. The Neobio restaurant is located at 3788 Duhui Rd, in the Minhang District of Shanghai.
It is part of the massive Neobio Family Park located in two buildings that include a large play centre, a party place, a library and areas for many other kid-friendly activities. The interior world of the entire complex is Li Xiang’s handiwork.
All of the areas have a distinctly story-world quality, but especially in the restaurant the inspiration was an ancient fairy-tale castle above which hot air balloons soar.
Various play pits are filled with balls, sand and toys, and different shaped crawling tunnels lead rom area to area. The tunnels are transparent for fun but the transparency is also a function of safety and peace of mind for the parents who can follow their kids’ movements from a distance without losing sight of them.
Li Xiang is a Chinese-born architect and designer who has studied in Malaysia and the UK. She established XL-Muse Architectural Design Limited in 2011 and changed the firm’s named recently to X+Living.
Her firm was also in charge of the much talked-about Yangzhou Zhongshuge bookstore where the brief called for the “most beautiful bookstore in China.” She has also created an eco-friendly furniture brand. Tuija Seipell.
