The new space is situated on at the very heart of Porta Venezia, one of Milan’s liveliest neighborhoods. Specifically in a long, narrow locale that used to house a popular tobacco shop, the façade of which, clad with green-hued mosaic, has been preserved for its iconicity. The interior of Barmare L’Altro is organized around two main areas: the dining room with its bar counter and the gastronomic or tapas area, with views of the kitchen.
Conceptually, and in keeping with the gastronomic offer of this attractive restaurant, the aim was to reproduce an understated marine atmosphere, an objective achieved by means of subtle interventions. The use of tinted natural okume plywood panels in the window jambs and the design of the central counter with its vertical array of overlapping marine plywood slats give movement and depth, at the same time suggestive of the technique and finish used to build the hulls of ships.
The marine theme continues in details like the use of stainless steel portholes in the door of the gastronomic area and the rest room which also, as Rodrigo Izquierdo explains, “are a nod to the aluminium panels with portholes that decorate the façade of the house in Nancy of Jean Prouvé, the precursor of industrialization and prefabricated elements, who laid the foundations of modern design and architecture”.
Similarly, dark navy is the color chosen for the window frames in the façade that open right out to create continuity between inside and out, the stools, the table legs, the suspended lamps and the bottle rack. It runs throughout the restaurant like a sea, enveloping the client in an atmosphere that is defined and coherent with the philosophy of the space.
