El Mama

As the name of the locale suggests – El Mama, La Papa – Barcelona-based studio El Equipo Creativo worked for a client who wanted to create a space which played upon duality and the mixture of opposites, man – woman, black- white, day – night. In the evening, in addition to food and drinks, a burlesque show would be offered to introduce a party atmosphere and dancing.

  The café-restaurant is located in an old canning warehouse in Barcelona with a great deal of personality, structure wise. The designers wanted to emphasize this aspect by adding a bright red in order to unify the different areas. Two arcades frame the central space with double height and serve as background for the two bars facing each other from opposite sides. Next to the white arcade on the facade is “El Mama”, a 360-degree daytime bar on a white surface, cozy with details of wood and much vegetation. At the opposite extreme on the black arcade is the cocktail bar “La Papa” with a black metallic industrial surface, it offers the nocturnal counterpoint.

On the two lateral sides of the space there are structural platforms at different levels connected by a large catwalk-stage to generate multiple paths through the space. The different levels, once again facing each other, create more private areas reserved for events and even a “secret bar”. The different levels, benches and bars frame what, after a certain hour, will become the center of attention, the dance floor. Materials used are polished woods over the original worn paint of the walls, pavements of Mediterranean-style mosaic ceramics next to fine dark woods or industrial metal slabs.

El Mama – La Papa, Barcelona, Spain
Program: bar and restaurant
Design: El Equipo Creativo
Team: Oliver Franz Schmidt, Natali Canas del Pozo, Lucas Echeveste Lacy
Completion: 2017