LA STAZIONE RESTAURANT
This project takes his inspiration from an old art nouveau railway station.
Located on two floors this venue has the typical flavor of a European architecture from the end of the nineteen century. Main elements are iron pillars looking like tree branches, floral style partition walls, big mosaic composition, as in an old Parisian subway station, and a lot of broken old looking cement tiles on the walls and chalk tiles on selected area of ceiling. Many elements such as clocks, luggages and decorative panels bring the client back into the golden era of railways. The design of the spirits conveys the sensation of speed you can experience when watching out from the window of a running train. Broken tiles are featured all over the place, both in the interior and on the façade to remind of an abandoned train station hall.
The continuity between the 1st and the 2nd floor is assured by the spectacular art nouveau glass holder which goes from the first floor through the void, up to the second floor’ ceiling .
On the façade elegance and decadent feeling leads, with the purposely excessive quantity of broken tiles, which once again give the nostalgic sensation of a former grandiose building now abandoned.
This restaurant is characterized by a decadent and vintage look being to give the feeling of an abandoned venue refurbished but which still kept many elements from his ‘previous life’. In a city like shanghai where commercial space last only few years, we wanted to spread the idea and trend to ‘recycle and reuse’ by giving places and objects a new life.
Our starting point was based on the requirements of the client, a place where people could go either for a quick lunch, or for a relaxing dinner, with dining area, together with a lounge area, a very convivial space where friend would meet. We were asked to keep a warm atmosphere with low illumination, and with a good attention to physical comfort. Other requirement was to create an innovative venue, different from any other place.
For this reason we started from the connection between the 2 floors, we wanted to have a spectacular element to unify the place and the volumes. From this necessity the glass holder takes his inspiration, characterized by an art nouveau style, this decorative element gave the direction to the whole concept. All the other elements were a consequence of this first element, including the spirit display, who is the connection element between an old and decadent venue and the modernity of the present.
The creative ideas are all linked to the connection to a railway station (Stazione in Italian means railway station)
The reception desk looks like an old ticket booth, and the bottom of the counter is made with old luggages.
On the walls, paintings representing old metallic plates with the indication of destination, once used on the trains. Mosaics decorations with directions on ticket office, waiting area, platforms, clocks, and advertisement poster on holiday’s destination, all those elements contribute to the feeling of being on process of leaving to an amazing destination.
The result is a very creative, comfortable and cozy space.
We put a big attention to the acoustic problem which is often underestimated by designers. The use of many refracting materials, such as metal, glass and ceramic tiles, has been compensated with the installation of acoustic panels, keeping sounds and noise under control.
