‘Local Green’ restaurant is located on the ground floor of an office-building in Athens city center. The store frontage faces a public walk-through portico, while the wide sidewalk in front of the portico serves as the exterior space of the store. The city walks by and through the restaurant.
“Exploring the relation between ground-floor stores and the city, in one of its most central locations, was the key-issue of the project. The aim was to design an extrovert space-creator of public experience.
In that purpose, three ‘faces’ towards the city were designed: the kitchen is set in the background of the store, organized on two levels behind semi-transparent surfaces in order for the food preparation to be exposed, the ‘living’ storefront displays the movement of employees and customers, while allowing the view to the background and the exterior space, furnished with potted plants seeks to create the quality that public space is deprived of.
In the intermediate spaces, the flow of customers is mixed with that of the city. As the dominant feature, the marble buffet-counter develops linearly throughout the depth of the space, highlighting the movement from the background -kitchen- to the façade -cashier- where it bends to form the storefront. The double-height space allows the kitchen area on the loft to display itself across the restaurant to the portico. Textures and colors were chosen to create a bright space in contrast to the surrounding urban space. Bespoke tables and sofas were designed especially for the restaurant.”
