XS House, located in Philadelphia’s Chinatown neighborhood, slots seven apartments into an 11-food-wide by 93-foot-long site, strategically occupying expanded bays, mezzanines, and bi-level upper units, for a total of 5,000 square feet. Lighting in the apartments was strategically placed to not take up the already limited space, while also complementing the urban architecture

This hybrid restaurant and performance art space, tucked into a single 500-square-foot room, is designed to amplify the rituals of eating and conversing by extending the dining timeline, letting the stories of the strangers around the table unfold. A linear perimeter slot with tunable-white capability transforms a scrim-like curtain into a soft but opaque surface during performance and dining events. Framed in a matte solid surface and lined with color-changing linear LED strips at their limits, deep portal-like openings connect the activities of the kitchen and bar (also seen as performance) to the space of cultural narrative and eating together.

An endless dining counter plays with the at times anonymous experience of the American diner counter at Saus. An expansive yellow countertop wraps the perimeter of the L-shaped dining space, serving comfort food late into the night. The orientation of the countertop, along with a series of parallel, mirrored surfaces, puts diners in close proximity without direct interaction. Lighting amplifies the countertop as the primary experience of the space.