A navy blue, wooden-floored tube ending in a kitchen, on the ground floor of a Nerva Traian apartment building.
Text: Justin Baroncea
Photo: Andrei Mărgulescu
Enter through the store, go past the curtain and, should you cross the space between the tables, you’ll end up by the other drape, in the partially open kitchen.
*1. Public acces. 2. Welcome area/bar. 3. Tasting bar. 4. Kitchen. 5. Lockers. 6. Staff entry
By the street, a four-meter-tall wooden grid, with wine bottles against a dark navy background, on both side walls. Among the store’s shelves, at one-third up the space, a wooden countertop supporting a bronze figure, lit by a 90-centimeter dome.
The statue, its arms outstretched towards the bottle-filled shelves, holds a bunch of grapes in each hand – a dialogue on wine among the objects that can be seen from the entrance.
The curtain-separated tube can turn into a sort of theatre, sporting tables, a red espresso machine and the chef by the window – the main actor. The velvet divisions can completely conceal the dining hall and provide a strict delimitation between the store and the rest of the space, (practically) rendering the restaurant invisible from the street when the main actor so decides.
The wooden countertops in the store and the restaurant are highlighting the depth of the space, both through their size, and through their positioning. Each of the two major wooden objects are dominating the tube, their ends by the kitchen highlighted by a scenography-like element – the bronze statue and the red espresso machine. One needs to mention that the espresso machine chromatically agrees with the fire hydrant suspended on the left wall as you go in.
Up above one’s head, a ‘DIY’ welded wire ‘mesh’, a navy-blue wire topography suspended under the false ceiling. A plant-less grapevine structure, supporting lighting devices, made of welded 8 mm mesh, accommodating LED bands.
Beneath the plant-less grapevine, a navy-blue modular bench highlights the depth of the space, which ends in the window where the chef is working. The round tables in front of the bench are dot-like within the tube and organize the chairs, that are the same colour as the walls.
The velvet curtain at the other end of the space is closing the table theatre and separates it from the service and annex area.
Wire, wood, and soft closings. Grape-less vine and natural wines on a wooden grid.
Theatre/restaurant among navy blue curtains with a window chef and a store as a foyer: VIÉ.
Info & credits
Authors: Mihai Barbu, Maria Ghement, Justin Baroncea
Co‑authors: Emanuel Birtea, Andrei Angelescu
Constructor: Binyan Sher
Area: 101 m2
