Per Me di Giulio Terrinoni: AlvisiKirimoto designs the new look of the Michelin-starred restaurant in the historical centre of Rome
The Michelin-starred restaurant Per Me di Giulio Terrinonihas been renewed througha signature project:Rome-based studio AlvisiKirimoto has restyled the venue in the heart of Rome, which has recently acquiredan additional windowonto the street,restoring the original layout of the ground floor of the palace. A stone’s throw from Campo de’ Fiori, in the suggestive vicolo del Malpasso, the closure of a framer's workshop enabledthe strategic extension: in addition to the annexing of the third arch, behind which there is now a room that houses 12 to 16 seats, the intervention included the renovation of the entrance area and the replacement of the window frames on the facade.
The new arched window, made with a slender thermal break iron profile, fosters the dialogue between the restaurant and the city, ignitingthe curiosity of passers-by and revealing an unusual perspective of the interiors, now flooded with natural light. The architects have operated with great respect, driven by stylistic continuity. “The new space...”, asserts Chef Giulio Terrinoni, “...seems to have always been there.”
The projectembraces the materiality and the warm and natural tones of the existing part: candid walls, solid wengèwood flooring, a wooden ceiling with exposed beams and a joiststructure have beenbathed in light by eliminating the existing false ceiling. A solid wengè wood boiserie, in alignmentwith the flooring, wraps the wall and runs for a height of 90 cm along the longer sides of the rectangular room. On the street front, this boiserie becomes a container and fridge for the wines, above which a thin iron shelf stands hanging from the ceiling. On the brown band, there are the tables in black paperstonewith a painted iron base, characterized by a minimal and elegant design and leftdeliberately without tablecloths in order not to detractattention from the dishes.
To enliventhe environment, on the back wall, site-specific artwork by Junko Kirimotocaptures attention from the street: a light source composed of a set of spherical elements folded and anchored in different points and between them, at a variable distance from the wall, create dynamism, in a three-dimensional game of lights and shadows, of full and empty spaces.
"As Giulio Terrinoni works on the strength and aesthetics of the ingredients, enhancing them and giving them new life through a creative process, in the same way, I imagined light as the raw material to excite. The work looks like an explosion of small luminous discs, which shape the abstract and dynamic space, and project the room into another dimension. Designed to pique guests' curiosity, our creation weaves a game of visual references with the Chef's proposals. The culinary experience is accompanied by the amazement of being in front of a deconstructed wall, which is highly texturaland constantly evolving" –says Junko Kirimoto, co-founder of the studio.
Slender metal tracks, suspended and anchored to the wooden ceiling, house cylindrical spotlights that focus on the artwork, which is further brightenedby an LED hidden in the upper part of the panel. All the lights, including the spotlights that dot the side walls, are controlled and adjustable with a home automation system, which fostersthecreation of a series of different scenarios and illuminates the tables in all possible configurations.
At the entrance, everything creates an intimate and enveloping atmosphere: from the wengè wood slatted ceiling, to the panels in the same material that cover the passageway to the existing room and that whichgives access to the new room, with its embedded glass shelves. To give prominence to the new entrance, the wardrobe element – a suspended parallelepiped with soft corners covered in textured and bronzed fabric – is invisibly anchored on the side elevation. On the street front, a rack is inserted into the mesh of the cabinet which acts as a support for minimal shelves in black metal. These elements are designed to host different compositions of ikebana, the art of floral composition, created ad hoc to adorn the facade.
Measured spaces of a refined and timeless elegance, vibrate with light thanks to Alvisi Kirimoto's project, which lives and breatheshonest materials, essential shapes, and signature cuisine that not only delight the palate, but stir the senses.
