On the iconic Rua dos Pinheiros, where São Paulo's joie de vivre exudes from the many trendy bars and restaurants, an anonymous street corner is redeveloped and transformed by MNMA studio into a jolly oasis for enthusiasts of design and seafood cuisine.

The bar-restaurant Atlântico 212 is located on the ground floor of a rationalist-inspired building, characterised by an essential volume curved at the head and neat surfaces dotted with a regular pattern of openings. A portico punctuated by a grid of rough concrete beams and pillars, surmounted by a slender canopy, intertwines with the public space along the pavement, incorporating street life within the restaurant.

 The project aimed to preserve the building's brutalist soul, visible in the original structure of pillars, beams and exposed concrete slab and in the straightforward, functional character of the space, enriching it with “Jurassic” suggestions provided by a contemporary lexicon of furnishings and finishing materials.

The framed structure dots the space where the dining tables, bar and kitchen counter are located, and dialogues with a palette of rough and textured finishing materials that envelop the convivial space and give it the material and immersive character of a cave belly: from the variable-grain grit plaster in earthy tones that finishes the walls, to the Brazilian quartzite – a stone approximately 630 million years old, rich in iron and precious crystallised minerals that give it a brownish, variegated colour – that designs the rugged, irregular surfaces of tables and counters.

 A series of organically shaped lamps designed by Guilherme Wentz and appropriately named “Fungi” creates a dramatic contrast between light and shadow, accentuating the vaguely mysterious character of the setting.