In Cincinnati, Ohio, Team B Architecture & Design nimbly navigates a tightly wound, open floorplan with equal parts fun and functionality for Wildweed. This 60-seat restaurant and 12-chair chef’s counter from chef David Jackman offers a menu concept that puts a playful spin on conventional dishes. The designers translated the food into an interior, blending an approachable space with unexpected moments. The design is a culmination of the designers and chef working together with millworkers, muralists, graphic designers, furniture makers, HVAC technicians, and electricians for bespoke solutions and surprises.

The architects first choreographed the floorplan around the different seating areas, chef’s table, bar, and wine stand. The designers used millwork to divide the space into its distinct zones that offer delightful elements, like the tile-clad wine cooler, built into a curving piece of millwork that also creates the corridor to the bathroom.

The messy, technical aspects of the restaurant were cleverly concealed. Banquettes with quirky wooden spheres craftily store plates and lamps—and conceal the ductwork. A 30-foot painting by Maxwell Redder (aptly named Edibles) shrouds a utilitarian core housing restrooms and service zones.

Cutting through all of this and the interior’s overall neutral base of wood floors and white walls, a cerulean-colored mesh lighting trough connects the various zones, running through walls. The practical yet unconventional illumination reflects the overall approach to Wildweed: Where there’s play, there’s practicality.