Aria Restaurant

Mattia Aquila

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Aluminium Extendo

Chelsea | Chair Molteni&C

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FADD Architects has completed chef Paolo Barrale’s new restaurant in the heart of Naples: homelike atmosphere, design, custom made furnishings and starred cuisine.

Aria, on the first floor, a haute cuisine restaurant, the secret bar The Lodge on the basement : two spaces connected on the inside and separated from a double entrance, a few meters away from the other, on the outside.

The planning challenge: creating a venue with a contemporary atmosphere, without relinquishing the historical context, framed in large windows that look out onto the street.

In liaison with the client and chef, the project took almost three years and has seen the transformation of an office space into a warm and welcoming place, a temple of culinary art.

photo_credit Mattia Aquila — Mattia Aquila

The Alp green marble of the doorway introduces the restaurant’s entrance, a double 6 meter high space amplified by the mirrored ceiling, which is studded by three Edra brass bells. Even the buttery recalls the green marble, together with chestnut wood, while farther on, a burnished brass reception echoes the style of the lampshades.

A corridor allows entry to the two rooms, which are interspersed with thin metal and wood bookcases and given rhythm by circular tables and small Molteni Chelsey armchairs in dark green leather or custom made built-in sofas of the same colour. The Grifo di Penta lamps chosen as lighting for each table create a warm and balanced glow.

For the pavements, FADD has chosen a heat-treated and customised parquet, flooring in oak tiles framed by green and mustard yellow lacquered slats that play contrast with the dark tones of the marble.

The smaller third room, amplifies Aria’s home-like atmosphere, a perfect dimension to host the small Molteni D.154.2 armchair by Gio Ponti and the Narciso di Penta lampshade that dominates the large round table – designed by FADD for the conviviality of 10 guests.

Between the two rooms and the third, there is a distributive space leading through a staircase covered in mustard yellow resin, to the upper floor – dedicated to the chef’s kitchen and to the pastry kitchen - or to The Lodge, passing through a secret door camouflaged into the wall panelling.

Here the space is turned around and conceived as a crypt; the floors are in pitted Trani stone and the space is characterised by the perspective axis which, going through the rooms, culminates on the green lacquered open pore wooden bar. The rust coloured velvet sofas are by Molteni, just like all the seating in the restaurant.

To complete the scene, the contemporary art pieces on the walls, a result of the collaboration with the Luigi Solito Gallery. “A very long and complex planning journey brought us to answer a double challenge: on one hand, as required by the client, the desire to create a special venue, far from the formality of a starred restaurant; on the other the respect for the context, since we were working in the heart of Naples. This is especially evident in The Lodge that, seen its peculiar traits, we treated just like a crypt, with an almost manic care in the choice of materials, finishes and furniture” – underline the architects.