Hye Min Lee

The Temple is a restaurant serving Buddhist cuisine. Buddhist practice is about mindfulness and attention. The philosophy directs practitioners to be in the present moment and focus on the self. In Buddhism, eating is a part of practice and meditation through communication with other existences on Earth. The Temple encourages modern people to be present in the moment. Rice shumai has been developed into a formal language of solids and voids. Where voids are, light is present. Where there are solids, light is directed by the form. Light conditions our moods and energy, defining the atmosphere of space. Louis Kahn stated, "Light is the giver of all presence." Our emotions are conditioned by interplay of light and shadow. The quality of light and shadow shapes solids and voids. Through the exchange, we shape the space that we are in.