Enigma by RCR Arquitectes: 2017 Best of Year Winner for Fine Dining

“Something very singular, different from the other restaurants around.” That’s what super-chef Albert Adrià, who achieved world renown for “molecular gastronomy” at El Bulli, requested for the interior of his latest effort. It’s one of six Adrià establishments, all clustered in an unfashionable area—an ambitious project that he has nicknamed El Barri. And what Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta, the surprise winners of 2017’s Pritzker Architecture Prize, cooked up for the 6,000-square-foot space is an experiential sci-fi production.

Up to 28 people a night embark on a culinary journey of 40-plus plates, passing through seven stations including an aperitif bar and a teppanyaki grill. Throughout the itinerary, diners are immersed in a bluish-green world that is both organic and high-tech. Translucent resin barrel chairs and pedestal tables appear to have been chiseled from ice caves. Acrylic paneling ripples, while puffy gray clouds of stainless-steel mesh cover the ceiling. Flooring and other surfaces in sintered stone have been treated with a watermark motif. Invisible to the eye is the plaque for the restaurant’s first Michelin star.

Project Architect: Pau Llimona.

> See more from the December 2017 issue of Interior Design

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