At the edges of the historic center of Morcone, Riohana opens, a small cocktail house overlooking the San Marco stream. The bar is located within an old two-story building, built on a rocky ledge at the edge of the stream and characterized by the typical features and technologies of constructions from the 1970s, purchased by two young brothers for the start of their new business.

Today, the cocktail house occupies the ground floor, where once there was a blacksmith’s workshop. It spans 60 square meters, consisting of a main room, a kitchen for preparing cocktails, and a bathroom with an anteroom.

The pre-existing ironworking activity, still alive in the memories of the community, the owners’ passion for nature, and the designers’ desire to create a space within a space guide the morphogenesis of the project. DFR Architecture shapes a custom-made iron frame that serves the various functions of the new business and simultaneously bears continuity with the past. Enveloping the space, shaping and adorning it, the lightweight structure made of rectangular section tubes (2x2cm) serves as a bottle rack at the counter, a support surface for enjoying an aperitif, a lighting system that sets various scenes, a structure for housing plants hanging from the ceilings, projection screens, and audio systems.

Its geometry, with its folds and extrusions, aims to evoke the three-dimensionality of a cave, within which water, greenery, and light coexist. Elements of glass block and marble slabs with greenish veins make up the counter, whose transparency and reflections recall the nearby stream’s water.

An essential language distinguishes Riohana Cocktail House. LED strips mark the space, and smooth finishes in coral tones enliven the surroundings, contrasting with the cement resin surfaces and the black and silver rectangular tiles. A large glass window marks the entrance to the establishment and frames the courtyard that completes the cocktailhouse.