The design rises from two premises: to obtain a very luminous place that could work mixing in time and space the uses of coffee-shop, restaurantss, and pubs. The pre-existing geometry of the establishment, elongated, “L” shaped and narrow, was the main difficulty to solve with design.
COCOMO RESTAURANT
Architect Firm: Salvà Ortín Arquitectes
Design team: Catalina Salvà Matas and Hector Ortin Isern
Collaborator: Josep Ortin Meseguer
Project Location: Barcelona
Date of Construction: 2014
Built area: 310,00m2
Infographics: SBDA
Builder: Construgarantía (David Orozco)
Wood: MC Decorados
Lightning: Sunfor, Habitat
Furniture: Vergés, Dadra, Habitat
Photos: Anna Ribera Canyadell
One of the main architectural definition means along the whole restaurant is establishing a line at 120cm height, to delimit the size of the benches, the height of the bars and the cladding on the walls, thus clarifying the continuity of the space, even at the corner room, which has to communicate both sides of the place.
The light becomes the main element of the project, together with the use of pure and recycled materials. Wood is one of the main materials that lends warmth to the space, used as flooring pavement, kitchen and bathrooms closing, and also as mirror frame in many ways.
The use of the different spaces, even with their own use changing along the day, are clearly defined with different and combinable lighting solutions: on the corners, a big chandeliers self-made with different lights from Habitat give the space a unique character; the table benches which run along the whole space are always related to a large linear forest of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, with warm light, along with a soft grazing light coming from behind the benches; the rest of the space is lightened with dimmable Sun for downlights to adjust the light level at any moment of the day.
The large glass facade in the street corner pretends to be a showcase of the restaurant and show itself to the city.
Wood and velvet are the main materials of the furniture, following the main architectural concept, and are used un chairs, benches, and armchairs, combining some self-manufactured pieces along with others from Habitat and mostly Vergès. The big main tables are also made of recycled wood and the common use small tables from Dadra are finished with marble, the same element that will define the visible pure-shaped volumes of the bars on both sides of the restaurant.
Studio
Catalina Salvà and Hector Ortín work together in their studio Salvà Ortín Arquitectes with headquarters in Barcelona and Mallorca, Spain, in architecture, urban planning and landscape projects since 2011.
They are winners of the first prize of the Europan 15 competition at the Parc BIT de Palma (Mallorca) site with the proposal Beginning et the End in 2019 and Europan 14 competition at the Platja de Palma (Mallorca) site with the proposal Agora 4.8 in 2017. They have also won the 2nd prize at the Riera d’Arbúcies Fluvial Walk competition (2011), a mention of the International Contest Passatges Metropolitans (2015) and the AJAC X Prize (Association of Young Architects of Catalonia) in the category of unbuilt urbanism and landscape (2016) for the project Forum km.0 by Sant Vicenç dels Horts. The restaurant Cocomo in Barcelona has been nominated for the 8th NAN Architecture Awards (2014) and the Pool in Son Mut in Mallorca has been selected at the Rosa Barba Award at the 9th International Landscape Biennial (2016).
Catalina Salvà Matas (Llucmajor, 1984) is architect by the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura del Vallès (ETSAV-UPC), postgraduate in Landscape Architecture and Master Degree in Urban Planning by UPC. She is currently PhD candidate in the Urban and Territorial Planning Department, where she is also associate professor since 2015.
Hector Ortín Isern (Barcelona, 1981) is architect by the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB-UPC) and completes his education in Portugal at the Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto.
