2012 Best of Year Awards: Counter Service

The spacious Aix Arôme Café is situated in Hong Kong’s OCT Harbour theme park on Shenzhen Bay.

Riffing on the waterfront location, Ajax Law Ling Kit and Virginia Lung, codesign directors of One Plus Partnership, drew on the wonders of the ocean for the 1,600-square-foot eatery’s design scheme.

Teal and royal blue dominate the color palette. The soaring off-white ceiling represents the sky, and the dark gray–painted timber flooring, the murky ocean depths. Seating and tables—particularly the octopus like legs of the 15-foot-long wooden communal table—have a distinctly organic feel. Rod pendant fixtures mimic a fish’s view up to the water’s surface, where ripples catch the light. And a giant bean-shape concrete pod, which contains the cashier and coffee service, sits Orcalike in the center of the space.