At the very heart of Porto Venezia, one of Milan’s liveliest neighbourhoods, where historical nineteenth-century buildings rub shoulders with major museums and elegant shops, lies Barmare L’Altro, a restaurant with creative cuisine where you can enjoy tasty tapas and other seafood specialities. The new space, the work of international interior design practice Rodrigo Izquierdo Design Studio, is situated on the corner of Via Lecco and Panfilo Castaldi.
Specifically in a long, narrow locale that used to house a popular tobacco shop, the façade of which, clad with green-hued mosaic, has been preserved for its iconicity. The interior of Barmare L’Altro, the casual and reasonably priced version of the sophisticated Milanese restaurant Barmare, is organised around two main areas: the dining room with its bar counter and the gastronomic or tapas area, with views of the kitchen. Conceptually, and in keeping with the gastronomic offer of this attractive restaurant, the aim was to reproduce an understated marine atmosphere, an objective achieved by means of subtle interventions.
The use of tinted natural okoume plywood panels in the window jambs and the design of the central counter with its vertical array of overlapping marine plywood slats give movement and depth, at the same time suggestive of the technique and finish used to build the hulls of ships. The marine theme continues in details like the use of stainless steel portholes in the door of the gastronomic area and the rest room which also, as Rodrigo Izquierdo explains, “are a nod to the aluminium panels with portholes that decorate the façade of the house in Nancy of Jean Prouvé, the precursor of industrialisation and prefabricated elements, who laid the foundations of modern design and architecture”.
Similarly, dark navy is the colour chosen for the window frames in the façade that open right out to create continuity between inside and out, the stools, the table legs, the suspended lamps and the bottle rack. It runs throughout the restaurant like a sea, enveloping the client in an atmosphere that is defined and coherent with the philosophy of the space. Then, as noteworthy elements in the remodelling, the breakdown of the front wall, which accommodates the bar counter and the bench seating, follows the rhythm of the openings in the façade.
Here, the long windows become mirrors, offering a definite sensation of transparency and spaciousness. The terracotta-tinted cork panel cladding of the rear wall, meanwhile, has the dual function of absorbing sound and giving a textured feel to the whole wall, thereby offsetting the reflection of the mirrors. To give the locale its particular character, the gastronomic area consists of a large wooden veneer and metal frame. This intervention is a reference to a microarchitecture of Japanese street food.
“The idea behind this allusion is to make the kitchen hatch both a place where the dishes come out and a table to eat at, so it creates a more direct relation with the product and with the food itself … as well as distinguishing two different areas for eating within the space: one more formal where the diners are seated, and another, faster and more informal, at the end of the dining room”, explains Rodrigo Izquierdo. As well as the architectural interventions, many of the fittings are also designed by the practice, choosing contemporary, clean, fresh tones and lines, creating almost technical pieces.
The stylised stools are given an almost schematic black structure with a dark blue-hued seat. The vintage sixties Italian chairs are upholstered with a marbled grey fabric. The large shared table, also made of marine plywood, has a deep blue laminate, a dark blue lacquered metal structure and a perforated metal grid. The use of three different types of marble (bianco carrara, rosso levanto and cipollino) for the other table tops introduces rhythm to the dining room, as well as removing the need to cover them.
In terms of the lighting, contributing to the warm, comfortable atmosphere of the space, the ceiling lamps stand out, made of dark blue iron with a combination of two patterns of pressed glass—one fluted, the other squared—also specially designed. Their shape is a reference to the classic chandeliers of the traditional trattoria, stylised to make them more modern and contemporary, but retaining the old charm of warm, vibrant light.
Conversely, fittings such as “In the Sun”, the wall light designed by architects Dominique Perrault and Gaëlle Lauriot- Prévost, radiate soft, cosy shadows. In short, an intervention with a light and rational yet sophisticated approach makes Barmare L’Altro, a restaurant with an interesting culinary offer, an ideal atmosphere both for informal meals and traditional dinners.
