At “Brando” in Madrid, ice cream can be enjoyed in an ambience with recognition value. Designed by Büro Solar in collaboration with Marta Jarabo, the ice cream parlor attracts attention with its electrifying blue color. However, the heart of the store shines in a different color.
At “Brando” in Madrid, ice cream can be enjoyed in an ambience with recognition value. Designed by Büro Solar in collaboration with Marta Jarabo, the ice cream parlor attracts attention with its electrifying blue color. However, the heart of the store shines in a different color.
Ice cream parlor in Madrid in electrifying blue
If you walk through the streets of Madrid’s old town, you will find an eccentric splash of color among the old houses with their natural stone and muted natural tones. The electrifying blue of the store window and door frame attracts attention. Inside is the Brando ice cream parlor, which is perfect for photos thanks to its vibrant and all-encompassing blue.
Blue as a unifying element
Walls, floors and ceilings are all painted in the same shade of blue. Even a filigree column glows blue and blends into the overall picture. Instead of fragmenting the room, Büro Solar, in collaboration with Marta Jarabo, has created the opposite here. Everything appears to have been cast from a single mold.
The concept is based on three requirements: firstly, a limited budget. Secondly, an image with recognition value. And thirdly, rapid implementation.
Parameters like these are a challenge. But Solar and Marta Jarbabo took them as starting points and designed an artificial landscape on Brando’s almost 100 square meters of store space. In doing so, they make use of the properties of colors and use blue to blur the perception of size.
In this project, economic necessities and ecological goals go hand in hand. In the business premises, demolitions were avoided in order to design the space. This meant that waste could be reduced through conversions. As a result, however, the textures and different layers of the building remain visible. The blue paint connects and unifies them. This allows the eye to perceive the space as a whole, allowing the gaze to wander over the various surfaces, from the bricks to the delicately decorated metal columns.
The circular lamp brings the Spanish sun inside
Despite the all-encompassing blue, the centerpiece of the Brando ice cream parlor is the sun-yellow, circular lamp that adorns the wall behind the counter. It is made of stretched fabric and attracts attention even from the outside. Of course, it also makes an excellent photo motif. The interplay of color and spatial perception culminates here. The aspect of consumption is combined with an atmospheric experience in this element. According to Brando, the declared aim was to investigate the relationship between visual perception and the phenomenology of color in order to add a new dimension to the shopping experience.
The sun lamp changes color throughout the day, creating ever new and different sensory perceptions. On closer inspection, the blue room is not just blue: depending on the incidence of light and shadow, the color changes from light blue to darker blue. The yellow light from the sun lamp also plays with the different materials of the blue surfaces. For example, the metal pillar glows in an evening red when illuminated by the circular lamp.
The entire Brando space is divided by just three horizontal elements, which all run parallel to each other: the work surface, the counter and the seating area. The counter is covered with gray plastic foam. This not only reflects the large gray stones of the building walls, but also gives the room texture. The counter, bar and worktop are accommodated here thanks to the flexible use of space. At the same time, the bright colors of the ice cream are set off by the restrained gray. Seating for customers is located opposite the counter. They are set into the window recesses. Here, the ice cream can be enjoyed in peace and quiet at – naturally – blue table tops.
Brando: An ice cream parlor in Madrid with recognition value
Thanks to creativity and a bold color concept, all three requirements were met. Thanks to the avoidance of major demolition work, the implementation was completed both quickly and in a resource-saving manner. Above all, however, Brando’s electrifying blue has a recognition value that also generates attention.
The name of the ice cream parlor is written in white on the façade above each of the windows and above the door, on its blue frame: Brando. The windows also frame the view into the special interior with the large yellow sun, which can be seen from afar. Especially in times of photo-sharing apps and social media, a creative concept with aesthetic expression can contribute to a recognizable image.
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