Shiso Burger –  the storied Asian-burger joint that found its start in Berlin – opened a new location in Vienna. Our design attempts to expand the old dictum ‘you are what you eat’ with ‘you are how you sit’. To compliment a kitchen that prides itself on an uncomplicated yet exciting, high-quality fusion of culinary worlds, we lay out a varied seating landscape that celebrates collective and informal dining experiences. Part of that interior landscape is in response to the given qualities of the space, which originally served as a porter’s room and a document archive. As such, what the room lacks in area, it generously provides in volume. To occupy the high ceilings and a dramatic shift in height from the main space to a upper gallery, we insert objects that present their function through playful means. The kitchen is a building within a building, referencing a vaguely vernacular architecture with a wooden gabled roof. A stepped dining tribune theatrically bridges the main room to the gallery. The tribune becomes a row of enclosed seating booths. Around the inserted objects, various furnished scenarios populate the space, suggesting different ways to sit, dine, and interact. The material palette negotiates existing ornamental elements (decorative floor tiles), raw surfaces (wood, stone, steel, plaster), custom composites (resin/wood casts), and chromatic accents (neon graphics, colored upholstery). Large sliding windows along the façade present this lively interior to the street.