Remi Berlin is the new restaurant in the Suhrkamp-Haus designed by Ester Bruzkus Architekten. It enters into an exciting dialog with Roger Bundschuh’s architecture – and the cuisine of Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi.
When it comes to the most talked-about buildings in Berlin in recent times, the new Suhrkamp publishing house has to be mentioned. Hardly any architecture journalist has passed by Roger Bundschuh’s bright concrete building on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in recent months. The interior design of his publishing rooms, designed by Kinzo Architekten in Berlin, has also attracted a lot of interest. Now Ester Bruzkus Architekten have created the Remi restaurant in Berlin on the first floor of the building, adding another facet to the Suhrkamp House.
The premises were challenging, says Ester Bruzkus, because the structural conditions – both long sides of the restaurant consist of floor-to-ceiling windows – and the color scheme – floor, walls and ceilings are cement grey – had to be taken into account. How could the new restaurant convey a sense of homeliness without the interior working against the architecture? Ester Bruzkus Architects found the solution in a formal design language, which they combined with a restrained but warm color scheme.
The first task was to structure the large space without taking away its spaciousness and airiness. The architects were helped by the fact that the two restaurateurs Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi wanted an open kitchen to form the center of their restaurant. The planners therefore designed a large room extension in which they combined the kitchen, a bar and an enclosed service and storage area. This block divides the total area of Remi Berlin into different zones: the main dining area is located in front of the kitchen and bar block. It is bordered on the window sides by two long benches made of light-colored plywood. The closed high backrests of the benches shield the guest area from the street, creating a sense of intimacy inside.
Further tables are set up to the side of the kitchen block: Almost a dozen tables stretch along the window front facing Torstrasse. This row of tables ends in the entrance area, which is marked by a small reception counter. The idea behind this concept was to be able to operate this side dining area even when the main dining room is closed – for example at off-peak times between the main meal times. On the other side of the kitchen block, facing the garden, is the chef’s table – a large individual table located directly next to the service access to the kitchen. Friends of the house can sit here and experience the action behind the pots at close quarters. Additional tables can be set up in the garden itself. The checkroom and washroom are located at the rear of the kitchen block
To underline the spatial concept and its handling solution with the kitchen in the center, Ester Bruzkus Architekten designed a lighting object especially for the Remi that circles the central block in wide loops. Three intersecting light tracks illuminate the entire room and also add a dynamic element to the interior.
The furniture and fixtures are dominated by a warm wine red, which harmonizes well with the light grey of the architecture. “We used this color wherever the restaurant staff work,” explains Ester Bruzkus. The kitchen is also in red, as are the bar, the reception counter, the service stations and a large wine rack at the end of the dining room. The guest areas, on the other hand, are characterized by light wood and curry accents. Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi brought this color into play themselves, as Ester Bruzkus reports: “They came into our very minimalist office, where the only decoration was a bunch of sunflowers. They were immediately impressed by the mood this combination created.” The architects then had the upholstery of the two benches covered with curry-colored corduroy fabric from Kvadrat and some of the chairs were also painted in this shade.
When selecting materials for the Remi in Berlin, Bruzkus, Greenberg and the team were guided by two constants. One was the building itself. With its material transparency, its well-calculated minimalism and its uncompromising commitment to modernity, Roger Bundschuh’s building already set the tone for the interior – if they didn’t want to implant a complete foreign body.
On the other hand, it was also the clear, no-frills cooking style of Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi, which focuses on the respective source product, that called for an equally perfectly minimalist interior. Peter Greenberg found inspiration for this in the great American architect Louis Kahn. Ester Bruzkus paraphrases a statement by John Hejduk about Kahn’s architecture: “The material should look the same on the inside as it does on the surface – as if it were a piece of butter”. This is why the edges of the furniture and fixtures in the Remi were not glued. The MDF from which the red parts of the furnishings were made, on the other hand, was dyed all the way through. After all, as in Remi and van Zuylen’s kitchen, the original product should remain clearly recognizable.
Almost the entire interior was designed by Ester Bruzkus, Peter Greenberg and their team themselves. One exception is the “Bondi chair” by Australian designer Fräg Woodall (for Please wait to be seated) and the “Hanging lamp” by Muller van Severen (for Valerie Objects). Bruzkus discovered the Bondi chair at the Salone del Mobile and was impressed by its comfort. She chose the luminaire for the graphic appeal of its design. It now creates light where the ceiling lighting does not reach.
Ester Bruzkus says that designing and implementing the Remis was a particularly exciting phase of her professional life. Not least because the renovation of the Villa Kellermann took place at almost the same time as the restaurant in the Suhrkamp building. Bruzkus was also responsible for the design of Tim Raue’s new restaurant in the historic villa in Potsdam. There, the variety of materials, colors, patterns and shapes play a central role in the design concept. Despite the completely different appearance, her architectural language is actually the same in both restaurants, says Ester Bruzkus. They are simply the two poles of the same world.
All in blue and just a 10-minute walk away: the Aera Brotmanufaktur on Rosenthaler Platz, where craftsmanship and design meet.
