La Baranda is a casual dining restaurant-pub, located inside of one of the main shopping malls of Ibague, Colombia. A 500+ square meters store, with an exclusive 300sqm area for clients. It’s an interior design project that responds to the client's needs for a new and attractive hotspot for the city and region.
Estudio Chávarro was able to propose the design concept from scratch, which became a great chance to create a restaurant that went beyond the interior design field and had an architectural criteria to it. The height of the store was an opportunity to design sculptural elements in different proportions that travel around the restaurant, above human scale, creating a visual interest for the customers.
As a result, the studio designed an elevated metal-made planter that goes all around the restaurant. Positioned in an organic shape, it lands on a series of pillars. The route that the planter takes, arranges the design and determines the position of the seating layout as well.A stair (to nowhere) that only leads to a view above the planter, welcomes visitors right in the entrance of the restaurant, it works as a transitional and contemplative element for the shopping mall and restaurant customers.
The restaurant is divided in two zones, the interior dining area, where the planter is located and the semi-outdoor area. A large type of balcony with window views that open up over one of the main streets in Ibague. For this zone, as a request from the clients, the studio envisioned a contrasting “breezy” design that involves fabrics and handmade brooms sculptures on the ceiling.
Services areas were pre-existing designs in the store that were not re-arranged, so the proposal was to cover the kitchen front with polycarbonate roofing panels and perforated metal sheets. For the bar, the studio opted for a simpler approach that focused on the display of the bottles between the columns of the planter plus a marvelous custom-made terrazzo bar top.
La Baranda opened its doors in December 2021, after around 6 months of design and execution that were simultaneously approached in some stages, fact that became the biggest challenge of the project for the studio, as quick and important decisions had to be made every day.It’s the first project designed by Estudio Chávarro in Ibague and it’s already considered a success in the city, as the restaurant is growing its clientele and becoming the dream hotspot that the owner wished for.
Team:
Lead Architects: Diego Chávarro
