© Miguel de Guzman

Lolita is not just another roadside restaurant off a busy interstate – a rare species within the prestigious restaurant world.  With the  focus on versatile design, Langarita Navarro Arquitectos thoughtfully created a flexible space capable of setting itself up as a scenario for almost any type of activity.

Follow the break for photographs, drawings, and further description.

Architects: Langartia Navarro Arquitectos
Location: Km 45 A-122, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Zaragoza, Spain
Project Architects: María Langarita and Víctor Navarro
Collaborators: Marta Colón, Cristina Garzón, Roberto González, Juan Palencia, Julia Urcoli
Structures: Mecanismo S.L.
Mechanical: Inés Plaza
Surveyor: Fernando Cornago
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Miguel de Guzman

© Miguel de Guzman

Lolita is located in La Almunia de Doña Godina, junction 270 of Autovía A-2, in a strategic position from a logistical point of view between the commercial routes of Madrid-Barcelona and Valencia-Bilbao, just a few kilometres from several towns and in the vicinity of the university campus of the EUPLA. The building seeks to exploit a variety and mixture of activities, on one hand attending to the different groups of users and on the other to the diversity of lengths of stays, that can go from the 10 minutes spent by the occasional visitor on a coffee break to the lunch taken by the regular patrons that follow the commercial routes, the compulsory rest times of the haulage drivers, the afternoons of the students who take advantage of the Wi-Fi networks or the full day spent by guests at a celebration.

diagram

The project is configured as a cumulative space of experiences that, by linking two autonomous and differentiated systems, explores the compatibility of the open-plan model with one of specific and designated spaces.

© Miguel de Guzman

The soft system configures a continuous space of irregular geometry perforated by patios where the camp-style grouping of furniture and the flexible lighting enable different ways of organising the space. The interior is characterised by a patterned/semi-perforated concrete slab and by the wood, glass and polycarbonate of the walls. The façade is a variable-section double strip that establishes a dynamic and variable relationship with the exterior space, facilitating the full view of the surrounding landscape while in the interior creating a complex play of reflections and transparencies.

floor plan

The rigid system is a build-up of specialised boxes made from 8-metre-long alveolar panels and brick walls that house specific and to some extent ritualised programmes. In the interior the spaces are customised by combining the criteria of the programme with elements taken from popular culture. The system is connected with the surroundings through well-chosen and fragmented vistas, generating a hermetic image that allows the large blind surfaces to be used as a support for road signage.

© Miguel de Guzman

The rigid system is a build-up of specialised boxes made from 8-metre-long alveolar panels and brick walls that house specific and to some extent ritualised programmes. In the interior the spaces are customised by combining the criteria of the programme with elements taken from popular culture. The system is connected with the surroundings through well-chosen and fragmented vistas, generating a hermetic image that allows the large blind surfaces to be used as a support for road signage.

site plan