Keep Banana Ice Cream Shop / Martino Hutz Architecture

Text description provided by the architects. The client’s vision was a vegan ice cream shop using only bananas which are too old for sale but just perfect for ice cream. The shop is located in the side wing of Sendliner Tor and a central pedestrian area. However due to its small shopfront pedestrians needed to be attracted and the shop needed to draw attention. The exiting entrance door was replaced with a tree wing door to fully open and to melt the interior with the exterior.

The existing arched door served as an inspiration to use the forced perspective following the principle of Palazzo Spada by Architect Francesco Borromini built in 1635. The forced perspective creates an optical illusion and plays with the customer’s perception. The cone-shaped vault extends from the exiting arched entrance. The other two arches counter and frame the room like one big brush stroke.

The broom finish texture emphasizes the vaults and creates directionality to become the main unifying design element.The furniture has a clean, longitudinal layout that divides the space into a customer- and serving-area. All vertical surfaces are made out of oak wood. The Counter is movable for the possibility of direct street vending.