In partnership with longtime collaborator Simon Kim, Modellus Novus designed the next location in the expanding, Michelin-starred COTE Korean Steakhouse empire, within COMO Orchard in the heart of Singapore’s Orchard Road. COTE Singapore adapts the brand’s signature environments of darkness and illumination to the quiet opulence of Singapore. Through an integration of the Korean concept of “Maru,” the design’s purposeful use of blank space creates a welcoming and simple buffer from the outside world, recalibrating one’s sense to embrace an entirely new environment. Stepping off the elevator of the third floor of COMO Orchard, the atmosphere immediately shifts from that of the hotel lobby below into a stripped-back, pulsing haven. While marked by the familiar sights of the artfully smokeless tabletop grills, intimate booths, golden domed ceiling, and leather detail throughout, COTE Singapore prepares guests for a new story. MN conceived of COTE Singapore as a film featuring five disparate “scenes”: the Jungle Bar, the Main Dining Room, the Music Room, the Cigar Lounge, and the Gold Room—spaces that grow increasingly exclusive and private the farther one ventures.

Guests first enter into the central node of the restaurant, Jungle Bar, where lush fauna echoing the city’s native growth envelops visitors, as a reflective black glass ceiling creates a generous sense of spatial abundance. On one side of the Jungle Bar resides the restaurant’s Main Dining Area, where COTE’s grills are on full display, jewels within the signature booths that foster a simultaneous sense of concealment and connection through open sight lines. Next, the restaurant’s Music Room and Cigar Lounge create opportunities for raising the energy level or settling into private conversations respectively. Enveloping and introverted, the Music Room is a flexible, intimate performance venue, articulated by soft edges and plush materials. In contrast, the Cigar Lounge is at once austere and luxurious in its form and material, inviting its select guests to settle in for an unhurried experience of quiet conversation with a prime view of the city. Finally, the most tucked-away space is the Gold Room for a fully private, customizable experience for COTE Singapore’s most exclusive guests. Here, a central hero grill is mirrored by a golden domed ceiling and a one-way mirror looks out to the members’ dining room.

Photos by Gary He and Khoo Guo Jie