' Shiro Shoyu'   |  RibaJ Competition 'Raise The Roof'     (StudioM12)

Shiro Shoyu | white soy sauce

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Heavy / light. Solid / perforated. Dark / bright. A new intervention that carefully blends and unifies, which fits perfectly into vibrant atmosphere of ‘modern’ Chinatown in London. Inspired by culinary needs and deconstructive architecture. The proposal is located above one of many, but significant Taiwanese restaurants.

 

Importing aged white soy sauce has not been an easy part of the business for the founders of the restaurant, so why not start, their own production on the rooftop in London. Shiro Shoyu will be a small scale self-sufficient and independent soy sauce factory, as an extension to the existing Taiwanese restaurant downstairs. The intervention is a mixture of Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese culinary history. Organic soybeans are used to make the sauce from the outdoor summer garden. A dark space downstairs is the perfect place to start the process of making soy sauce, where a dimmed atmosphere is kept by a small amount of perforations in the cladding. Storage space for last season’s harvest, a table for a washing and standing shelf units for drying and growing koji on soybeans. Fermenting beans and ageing soy sauce are stored in barrels in the same space. Bottled aged white soy sauce is easily taken down the staircase for use in the restaurant.

 

The triangle shape of the proposal has the corner of the south wall pointing in the direction of Docklands, and the ‘first’ Chinatown in London. White, perforated metal cladding wrapped around OSB provides the strength of the building facade. A simple staircase is designed as a part of intervention. Leading from the backyard to the top of the existing building, clad is the same manner as the extension. This time laser cut perforations in the cladding reveal hidden two Chinese characters 白色, which means ‘white colour’. The building becomes brighter inside as it rises, creating a perfect place for a small nursery, so that soy sauce can be produced in the winter time as well. All of the furniture is to be made using OSB. Exposed floor edges of OSB gives some roughness to the interior.

 

The intervention spiritually connects with first site of Chinatown and East Asian cultural sphere, cultivating the tradition of making soy sauce. Moreover it will help to grow and connect the community, as well as encouraging collaboration with each other. These are the staple aims of the Shiro Shoyu.