“El Cardenal
Restaurant” is located in
the ground floor of a modern building in the midst of of a trendy commercial
area of Mexico City. The contemporary design of the premises is in direct
relationship with the sorroundings rather than with the traditional mexican
cuisine, allowing it to be the centre of attention and leaving everything else
functioning only as background.
The bar area is the principal node from which the complete
distribution and the restaurant concept revolves, at the same time is the host
zone that welcomes the visitors with a magnificent nava wood and black
greased steel bar that gives access to the main foyer.
In the main dining room a black Oaxaca’s clay cabinet will
display temporary expositions of selected pieces of the Museo de Arte Regional
– MAP - (Regional Folk Art Museum); a loose ceiling panels covered with scantex
acts like an acoustic barrier and the gaps between these panels and black the
background helps to hide air conditioning outlets, speakers, sprinklers and the
rest of the mechanical elements. Also from the dining room you can access an
indoor yard that is in complete harmony with whole decoration concept.
The integration of the kitchen area was accomplished by
using amber glass working as filter and extending the black ceiling from the
main foyer towards it creating a contuinity feeling between this two spaces.
The floors were covered with natural and polished pórfido de San Luis
stone; nava wood and a steel plate was utilized for the baseboard.