Nuna Bar / Conjuntos Empáticos

Architects: Conjuntos Empáticos
Year: 2024
Photography: Juan Borgognoni
Lead Architects: Marta Benito, Sálvora Feliz, Laura González Caballero, Guillermo González Requeijo
Collaborator: Emilio Prado
City: Madrid
Country: Spain

The Madrid Cafeteria, a conversion project from a potato chip store by Conjuntos Empáticos, exemplifies adaptive reuse in Madrid. This transformation aims to create a flexible and inviting space that accommodates diverse activities while enhancing customer comfort. With its distinctive metal porticoed structure and a color palette designed for warmth and naturalness, the project introduces versatile, customer-centric design elements. This approach ensures a seamless transition of space usage, fostering an inviting atmosphere that adjusts to different needs and events.

This comprehensive reform project has transformed a former potato chip store into a cafeteria. The design goal was to establish a versatile and welcoming space that adapts to varying activities without being confined to one specific function and create a customer experience from the initial entry by focusing on creating enveloping and intimate settings through a warm, natural color palette.

The architectural design centers around a striking metal porticoed structure that extends vertically throughout the bar’s entirety, from the basement to the main floor. This element is visually significant and functional as it supports beer tanks, a metal staircase to the basement, and air conditioning ducts. The furniture choices promote flexibility and comfort; the tables feature adjustable height mechanisms to cater to different events or client needs, and the stools can be easily stacked to maximize space as required.

The color scheme primarily features warm gray and moss-green tones that contribute to the atmosphere’s warmth. The lighting design strategically accentuates the metal structure, enabling the creation of varied ambiances tailored to the time of day or event type.