IAAC is glad to announce that the Alkimia Restaurant, designed for the chef Jordi Vila by MAA Faculty Carmelo Zappulla, with Nacho Toribio (External Reference Studio) and Chu Uroz, has been awarded in the Built Projects category of the International Architecture and Design Prize “Author’s Bar/Restaurants/Hotels”, organised by the Italian National Institute of Architecture – IN/ARCH in collaboration with the food and wine magazine Gambero Rosso.

The restaurant is located in the city center of Barcelona, on the main floor of a modernist building left unoccupied for 40 years. The project design has been carried out taking into consideration two elements: the pre-existing architectural context and the specific gastronomic offer of the Michelin-starred restaurant Alkimia, which is 80% based on fish.

The restaurant has been conceived of as a continuous scenography fostering a seamless sensory experience. The different parts of this scenography feature sea life-inspired skins, art installations and custom-made furniture which establish a unique relationship with the surrounding space.

In order to preserve the existing architecture, neither structural interventions nor permanent transformation of the context have been proposed. Overall, the project is based on a dialogue between digital fabrication and craftsmanship.

External Reference Architects is a multidisciplinary design firm that aims to break the boundaries among architecture, visual art, and digital tools for generating new spatial experiences.