Rumbla Restaurant
The order of this commercial design project of Rumbla restaurant comes through Grup Arenal, old acquaintances and friends with whom we had already collaborated in the design of their other restaurants Xup-Xup and Arenal.
The group has found the perfect place to open its third restaurant in the city center and again rely on our studio for the design of their new restaurant.
This new restaurant aims to be a reference point for the people of the city, being a Mediterranean food restaurant with an excellent value for money. But also, make it an attraction for tourists who pass through the city center and seek a local and authentic gastronomic experience.
Commercial design of Rumbla restaurant
A commercial design project of Rumbla restaurant in which it is based on the need to develop from scratch the entire concept of the restaurant, including the corporate image and all the aesthetic proposal of the interior design of a restaurant that must be very powerful.
This new restaurant, located at number 70 of the mythical Rambla de Catalunya in Barcelona, must have a concept and a cutting-edge aesthetic that makes it stand out from the rest of restaurants in the area.
On one of the first visits to the premises, it was where the idea of working with the idea of rhythm, cadence and sequence came up. The singular location within a rambla and the morphology of the local, so we asked.
The interior layout was presented as a corridor between the street and the large dining room and kitchen located at the end of all the premises. A long, monotonous and narrow route was an easy starting point.
Therefore, it was essential that this commercial design project of Rumbla restaurant was very well defined.
Initial sketch of the entry
Cinema as a reference for the distribution of a restaurant
The room has a long and narrow morphology where after a long corridor, you reach a spacious living room. In this case, the challenge was to break that long sequence which could generate a sense of monotony and heaviness for the visitor.
A long tunnel of thirty meters in length that also had a pillar in the middle of the passage and that reminded the restaurant car of a passenger train.
That feeling made us come to mind, the scene of the mythical movie “One of ours” by Martin Scorsese. In it, a very young Ray Liotta stars in a sequence shot where he accesses a crowded night-life place.
In that fast wandering through the intense movement, of a large kitchen in full service, the magic of the scene develops. This culminates with the arrival at the back of the place, where a waiter prepares a table for them on the fly.
A restaurant with a practical and effective distribution
In visualizing this sequence, we immediately understood that the objective we had to seek was the same.
This is how the entrance to the restaurant was supposed to act as a base of operations for the waiters. These were to be connected directly with a small kitchen, equipped with the basic tools, in order to give immediate service to the diners of the terrace.
With this organigram, the terrace and the first part of the room were solved, but it was missing to make sense of the rest of the corridor and the great hall of the end that unfolded as a large appendix.
We had to look for the way to arouse the interest of the visitor and get to the diners, until the end of the space, so we had to breathe more rhythm to this commercial design project of Rumbla restaurant.
A story of its own: the origin of ideas
What better way to bring rhythm to a story than through music. An element that, in addition, for a project like this, destined to leisure and gastronomy, perfectly suited.
In order for the interpretation of rhythm to be translated into something material, it was necessary to create a metaphor that would transform itself into an inner volume. In addition, the right style and register had to be chosen to complete the concept.
Another aspect to define, was to create a unique experience and different from the rest of the great gastronomic offer present in this emblematic area of the city, so the proposal had to be ambitious and powerful.
At this point, Molins Design developed a story: the tale of the rhythm of the Rambla. As a result of having wandered down this path, we came up with a musicality.
Rumbla: a word game
From here comes the name of the restaurant, Rumbla. A pun with traditions of Catalan culture and the place where the restaurant is located.
The wordplay consists of the inspiration of the typical Catalan rumba, where we use the song “La Rumba de Barcelona” by Manu Chao as a melodic basis of inspiration.
A song with pure rhythm, fast cadence and lots of energy. So, starting from this rhythm, we had to move the music into an interior design project.
The visual sequence of the film and the rhythm of the rumba have served as inspiration to be able to raise the flow of transit of the local.
Converting a musical score into a fragmented distribution at the design level.
Le Corbusier’s architecture as inspiration
To make this translation of music into something more tangible and applicable to a designed reality, we were inspired by the monastery of Sainte-Marie de la Tourette designed by architect Le Corbusier.
In this project, the teacher explores the idea of musical rhythm through glass balconies. In them, the window quarterns, of rationalist style, reproduce, schematically, the score of one of the Gregorian songs interpreted by the monks.
Taking as a reference this technique employed by the Swiss architect, we decided to apply it too, but instead of two-dimensionally as in the case of the Tourette, we look for the way to be able to reproduce an entire volume.
Interior design of a restaurant from a song
From the musical essence of the rumba created by Manu Chao, we generate a plot. The mission was to transform this musical sequence into something tangible that would give rhythm to the distribution and form a volume.
The exercise consisted in respecting the rhythmic sequence and adapting the different functionalities of the project to the marked plot.
This volume that is born of moving the rhythm to the physical design of a space should be defined through some divisions or elements that divide and at the same time, give sense and rhythm to the interior distribution of this commercial design project of the restaurant Rumbla.
The lattices: the rhythm translated into an interior design
The same concept was what helped us to physically define these partitions, leading us to the conclusion that the rumba and its visual imaginary should be very present in the design of these dividing pieces that would constitute the volumetric partitions.
At this point, a new interlocutor appears. The Spanish beer brand Alhambra became one of the outstanding partners of the gastronomic proposal. Its powerful brand, dressed as an emblem, a detail on the scale of the lattice of the Alhambra in Granada.
Spatial planning plan
A restaurant design with a different and original aesthetic
Considering this gastronomic collaboration and the Andalusian origin of the Catalan rumba, we saw very clearly that these dividing pieces had to be drawn as lattices inspired by the geometric pattern of the monumental complex of Granada.
After several size tests using mock-ups, the correct scale and thickness were found, as it was very important to find the right point of visual screening that would allow us to see, but not be seen.
An ideal restaurant to watch live rumba
Given the musical inspiration of the design and concept of the restaurant, as well as the large dimensions of the main hall, could not miss an area with a stage where you can perform rumba concerts to liven up the evenings of customers.
Sketch of the main room
The colors of the rumba applied to the interior design
To define the chromaticism of the commercial design of the restaurant Rumbla, we started from the synesthesia and went to look in the table of color correlations where the notes of a staff are associated with a chromatic table.
This table is accepted and standardized, making it fairly easy to establish a description of the chromatic range of a musical composition.
The Rumbla project was born with the firm will to link ideas and close a proposal where coherence is established in all aspects. This is why we decided not to leave elements left to ambiguity.
Therefore, the oversized notes, suspended on the walls, end up being colored lanterns that give joy and dynamism to the space.
Traditional materials, but with a modern touch
To choose the materials for the commercial design of the restaurant Rumbla, we again focused on the concept of the project and went to the showroom of Jòdul to carry out the work of search of materials through all the samples available.
These materials should convey the idea of a lifetime bar, have an elegant and warm touch alike, and at the same time be a little bold and eye-catching.
This is why we chose to play with two different floors: a porcelain floor that simulates the terrazzo, typical of the building of the 60s and 70s in Spain, and another one in oak parquet.
Textiles as differential elements
In terms of textiles, we used technically resistant fabrics from Fibreguard, specifically designed for the retail sector. For both upholstery and curtains, we use shades that combine with the chromatic palette linked to the kinesthetic range rumbera.
The curtains made this commercial interior design project play a very strategic double role. On the one hand, they serve to visually eliminate corners of the room, thus giving this idea of not finding planes, and on the other hand, they have an important role in terms of acoustic absorption.
In a large space, where several groups of people are going to come together simultaneously, it is key not to generate an uncomfortable feeling and provide that degree of acoustic comfort.
Rumbla like any good restaurant, has a separate lounge just before reaching the main room of the end as a “privé” corner that has the versatility of being able to stay open or, add a touch of intimacy by sliding curtains that allow you to play with an additional degree of privacy.
Sketch of private room
A terrace that stands out in the middle of the Rambla
Being located on a road so busy and with as much competition as the Rambla de Barcelona, the restaurant had to have a good terrace both in dimensions and presence.
Therefore, both the design of the furniture, as that of the planters and the awnings with skirts have been totally customized and designed to measure following the same aesthetic line as the interior, so that the two spaces are connected and with a homogeneous visual coherence.
Sketch of the planters
A rumba restaurant in the heart of Barcelona
Music, gastronomy and culture come together in a unique and very authentic space in the center of Barcelona, to carry out a fresh and fun gastronomic proposal. Expanding in this way the range of gastronomic proposals of the Arenal group.
At the same time, demonstrating a desire to make the city of Barcelona a gastronomic and cultural reference worldwide.
