Salt, Fire, Heat, Acid: Bar Kar Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur by Spacemen.

Spacemen Studio has designed Bar Kar, an immersive wood-fired restaurant in Kuala Lumpur centred around the concept of primordial community cooking. With timber as the key material, a distorted archway greets guests, ushering them into a firewood-lined pathway—made to feel infinite with some clever mirror placement.

Inside, the interior is cavernous. Earthy terracotta hues envelop the dining room, inspired directly by ancient oven pits used to cook and smoke food in the ground back in the day. A circular bar constructed out of red travertine is matched with plush banquette seating, all anchored by a fiery gold metal mesh sculpture that Spacemen’s Founder Edward Tan describes as “abstract interpretations of the elemental force of heat and fire.”

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Like theatre in the round, a U-shaped counter made of grey travertine offers an interactive dining experience. Twenty guests can sit at the Chef’s Table and see the primordial style of cooking up close.

In the more intimate private dining room, Edward chose to create a cocoon-like sanctuary that takes cues from the organic contours of a cave. The cascading layers of white stucco walls contrast with a floating fire mesh sculpture and a striking red travertine dining table.

“Bar Kar epitomises the concept of primordial community cooking, where elements of heat and fire are embodied in terracotta stucco walls, fiery mesh installations, and the earthy hues of red travertine,” Edward concludes.

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[Images courtesy of Spacemen. Photography by Su Ping.]