Yatai

A yatai (“shop stand”) is a small, mobile Japanese stall selling street food such as ramen and other dishes. These wooden pull-carts are typically equipped with kitchen appliances and sometimes even seating, yet remain light and portable making for easy movement from location to location.

Yatai have been in use since the Seventeenth Century and later gained significant popularity towards the close of the Nineteenth Century. Although their existence is dwindling in the contemporary world, yatai continue to offer a living connection to former times, even thriving in certain areas such as the Fukuoka prefecture.

Here we see innovative design studio kodai and associates present plans for the construction of six ramen yatai carts with mobile furniture. The specific design of these carts and their furnishings remains faithful to their traditional origins and is intended to maximize their dynamic purpose and ability to integrate with their ever-changing surroundings. Like their historical forebears, they are mobile and compact but also answer the call of modernity with an innovative and sustainable approach to materials and assembly.