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Architects: KdF Arquitectura
- Area: 450 m²
- Year: 2015
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Photographs:Niko Jacob – Emilio Arango, Lucho Mariño
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Manufacturers: Proquinal, Spradling México
Text description provided by the architects. This restaurant updates the presentation and preparation of Colombia´s most popular recipes and flavors. Its name, “La Principal”, is the term used to call the main street of any Colombian town. The branding goal was to make a visual contemporary re-interpretation associated to the most recognizable Colombian gastronomic traditions.
The design teams at both p576 and KDF Arquitectura chose to recover typical Colombian imaginary for every design aspect, from graphic design to interior architecture: playful shapes, traditional craftsmanship, emblematic histories and, of course, a cheerful mood; even the fluorescent colors of the new visual identity are a vivacious take on the Colombian flag.
“La Principal” is strategically located in Bogota’s 72nd street financial center, in a traditional post-colonial unit chosen from a three-house set. The design team at KDF Arquitectura decided to eliminate all additions made by previous owners, leaving the original structure and intervening, alongside traditional craftsmen, its characteristic spaces to embody four iconic “regions” in Colombian cooking.
The portico -Salón Cartagena- features a rustic Zapan wood floor, an adobe dome and stone walls that evoke Cartagena de Indias and its traditional Caribbean flavour; in the foyer, the Magdalena Bar and its exclusive handmade concrete tiles and crafted lattices reminds us of Colombia’s great river and its diversity, while the Pacífico Hall and its pre-columbine inspired pattern brick floors and soil and stucco walls are evocative of the raw and unexplored magic of this coast.
The restored cobble floor at the Bogotá Patio is a cue to the country’s interior architecture. A hammered iron handrail and rustic Zapan wood staircase takes us to the second floor, which houses the companies offices and public restrooms. A colorful mural about Colombia’s rich culinary ingredients is the corridor's main feature.
