Buddha Bar is a global restaurant chain. The most prestigious district of New York. And here is our Expolight lighting project in collaboration with YOD Group. In the heart of New York City, 245 layers of glass and almost 1000 parts weighing 13.5 tonnes were brought to life with light.

Together with our architectural partners, YOD design lab created a deep, atmospheric space in the new Buddha-Bar New York in Manhattan. This complex lighting design project has become an incredible global experience for our Expolight team. And its main feature is a permanent light projection installation with a 4.5-metre glass Buddha!

Together with the architects, we worked for a long time on an ambitious concept, studied Manhattan restaurants, their specifics, and chips, and concluded that darkness and uneven, finely tuned light prevail even more in restaurants here. After three years of work on the other side of the ocean, we can finally enjoy the result!

The entire interior and lighting are based on the overall concept of the restaurant. The lighting is very restrained, and contrasting, and accents pull textures and details out of the darkness. We reveal wood, metal, and glass with warm spots of light. The accents on the tables are not the usual point accents but double-circular with glowing edges and a highlighted center. These accents are provided by light sources with extremely narrow optics in the 8-metre-high space under the ceiling.