El camino restaurant / Zooco Estudio

Text description provided by the architects. Our client proposes an Asian restaurant in which the protagonist is going to be raw fish, in its different versions. He also wants a relaxed, warm, and unique atmosphere. The place is located in the Sardinero área within the city of Santander with beautiful views of the “La Segunda” beach. One of the most emblematic areas of the city, where the sea and the beach are the main characters.

With this setup, we proposed a design that brings the undersea world to the restaurant. However, we stayed away from the clichés of the sea imaginary. We introduce an abstraction materialized in textures and shapes that remind us of that world. All this translates into a curved geometry that speaks about the sea swell, which is arranged in three different bands.

The lower band houses all the circular benches and the bar; a hard and resistant intermediate band for the walls; and an upper band that houses the ambient lighting of the room and the overbar.

On a material level, instead of the obvious option, we decided on noble, timeless, and warm materials, such as wood and clay, which refer to the Asian-Japanese aesthetic. We refer to the typology of Japanese (Asian) restaurant in the material more than in the formal aesthetic.

From bottom to top, we have natural wood and textiles that refer to the curvilinear world before mentioned; the squama geometry in clay material which refers to the fish skin; and the plastic cylinders, transparent and reflective surfaces that represent the wáter glitters.

Finally, on the floor plan, we introduced a terrazzo that perfectly matches the idea of a sandy floor, completing this marine ideology. At a programmatic level, there is a covered outdoor space that functions as a filter for the restaurant, where the excellent views of the Sardinero are highlighted.