SMOQOHOLIC Restaurant

One of my favorite projects for a number of reasons. Smoqoholic is a shisha, restaurant, and lounge. The owner, Mr. Ayaz, wanted an industrial modern look with dimmed club-like lighting. I was given freedom to play around based on that brief and results were something I'm proud of.

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The lighting is RGB LED light and it's programmed to change at certain intervals; the trick for me to keep the ambient sophisticated and magical was to have long intervals, this is also more comfortable for diners since this is not a club. Also, the whole space has one or two light colors at the same time only, except when there's a birthday it's programmed to go wild.

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Since color comes from the RGB light I wanted everything else in the restaurant in gray and white; the seats, tables, the concrete flooring and walls, and the black open ceiling. I didn't want anything to clash with the lighting scheme.

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The restaurant has cool features like the custom-made game tables; they have a built-in chess board which can be lit and the light corresponds to the restaurant changing light, a drawer with cards and other games, as well as an attached TV screen for sports events or video games. You should see the shisha too!

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The flooring is solid concrete; poured, leveled, and polished by a professional company. It wasn't cement and epoxy, or a micro-topping layer. The client was intelligent to realize how important it was for the industrial look, plus it's much more durable and worth the investment.

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This is one of my dream projects, and the client was a delight to work with.

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You may check the restaurant out on Zomato, on Facebook. or on Instagram.

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The last few images are the visuals prepared for the project. The last image is of Mr. Ayaz receiving the best shiasha Zomato People's Choice Award 2018, and the restaurant was also nominated for best new restaurant in Dubai.