Restaurant Le Nino
context
The restaurant Le Nino is on the ground floor of an old building in the historic centre of Toulouse, in an area characterised by narrow streets and a combination of medieval buildings and grand residences.
boundaries
One element of the brief, relating to the creation of a terrace, led us to consider boundaries. Consequently, the project is characterised by the transition:
between internal and external spaces
between public and private spaces
This transition aims to create an active, urban environment.
loggia
The loggia created within the old dining room forms a broad, active boundary, working as a filter, a darkroom, and creating a sequence of framed images of the city from inside the restaurant ; designed as an inside / outside space, it blurs the boundaries. The projecting windows in the facade are part of this idea and when closed align with the rest of the street, reading as a new take on the timber panels of neighbouring ground-floor facades.
materials
Inside, revealing and enhancing what was already there forms the basis of this limited and delimited project, with a continuous surface to define the space in which furniture is installed. The use of a single material – matt black ceramic tiles – for floor and walls, reinforces unity and characterises the venue. Careful consideration of the tiling layout and the resulting surface and its continuity of lines contributes to the definition of the spaces, while adding another dimension to the surfaces.
