Saladang Song is a Thai restaurant located in a mixed commercial

T O L K I N & A S S O C I AT E S A R C H I T E C T U R E
ARCHITECTURE
R E S TA U R A N T S
Saladang Song Restaurant
383 S. Fair Oaks Ave.
Pasadena, California
completed 2000
SALADANG
Saladang Song is a Thai restaurant located in a mixed commercial
neighborhood south of Old Pasadena. The client, “Dang” Vattanatham,
is a Thai woman whose traditional cultural values have been inflected
by her migration. She has developed a loyal clientele by offering refined
versions of traditional dishes, a kind of abstraction of Thai cuisine.
Clients with these kinds of issues and interests do not bring a prescribed,
transportable system of architectural expression. So in this case the
question became: How to make a building that in some sense comes
from another place and at the same time occupies its specific location?
At Saladang Song, the notion of engaging a larger context offered
opportunities to respond imaginatively to the specific conditions of the
site, budget, and program.
The building uses a modified version of standard tilt-up concrete
construction in combination with the emerging technology of laser-cut
steel. The monolithic concrete slabs that enclose the patio were poured
on site and raised into place, resting on concrete “chairs.” These slabs
were then “keyed” together to continuous footings, tied to grade beams
that extend beneath the building. The weight of the building keeps the
slabs from overturning outward.
The laser-cut steel screens were patterned after Thai textiles, but the
designs have been abstracted and transformed. In this way, the patterns
do not simply mimic the traditional forms, and they seek to avoid the
trappings of literal borrowing. These screens and other exposed steel
members are finished with a metallic-flake automotive paint.
PROJECT TEAM: Peter Tolkin, John R. Byram, Christopher Girt, Craig Rizzo,
Anthony Denzer
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Nicholas/Graham
ENGINEERS: Kurily Szymanski Tchirkow, Inc. (structural); Khalifeh & Associates
(mechanical, electrical, plumbing); Herb Cooper (civil); Jerry Kovacs & Associates
(geotechnical/soils)
CONSULTANTS: Eddie Effron (lighting); Wet Design (fountain)
CONSTRUCTION MANAGER: Tolkin + Byram & Associates
PHOTOGRAPHER: Grant Mudford
41 WEST BELLEVUE DRIVE
PA S A D E N A
CALIFORNIA 91105
TEL 626 356 0443
FA X 6 2 6 3 5 6 0 9 7 5
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