Gastronomy and conscious architecture

Restaurant Tramo in Madrid, designed by the Selgascano architecture studio and designer Andreu Carulla, reveals in itself part of the process followed to achieve sustainability.

Creativity and a holistic approach are without any doubt the best keys to opening the floodgates of the most innovative sustainability. By addressing as many aspects as possible and combining them, this Spanish restaurant has achieved this.

Tramo has also benefited from the collaboration of a bioengineer and an expert in integral sustainability and circularity to bring the challenge to a successful conclusion.

From the outset, the project opted to respect the original space: an old warehouse of almost 460 m², with various previous uses. By limiting modifications and the introduction of new elements as much as possible, the reuse of existing materials has been promoted, giving them a second life. Of particular note is the reuse of the unique concrete beams and tensioned cables that recall its past as an industrial space. The added materials originate from green buildings. As a whole, it constitutes a detailed exercise in urban mining, where everything found is of interest and a source of new possibilities.

Architect Lucia Cano, co-founder of the Selgascano studio, points out that her father, the renowned architect Julio Cano Lasso, learned her how to value the essential. She was ‘to avoid the superfluous and to promote the minimum and the fundamental over architectural celebrations’. In short, he taught her one has to value what one has. It is about ensuring that what exists is truly the protagonist, whether because of its history or the patina of time. Projects always seek a connection with the natural environment, an austerity in consumption and a way of working with materials and forms that are different, depending on the place where the building will be erected. In this case, the new space, whose primary objective is to reduce its environmental impact, encompassed all these values.

Andreu Carulla, who was responsible for the design of the furniture and the lighting, created a natural heating and cooling system, with more than a thousand handcrafted ceramic modules. It is integrated into the space in a series of continuous benches, generating a natural climate in the enclosure. The furniture design is based on modularity, as an eco-design strategy, to be efficient and sustainable.

During the construction, the leftover wood was used to make the backs of the chairs, the doors and the bathroom fronts. The excavation debris has been reused in the different courtyards and levels of the building. The polycarbonate sheets from the old roof are now false ceilings in the bathrooms. And some of the sand obtained from the demolition has been used to make up to 1,700 pieces of crockery.

Andreu Carulla reflects on what good design should incorporate, in addition to functionality and beauty: “There are also other conditions and attributes that have to do with other benefits: its craftsmanship, its respect for the environment, its own recycled materiality... Without these latter values, in the 21st century, the piece loses weight, it abandons its effectiveness within the society for which it was designed. This is the message that many of the designers of my generation have incorporated for a long time, and we must not deviate from it.”

Tramo is an almost self-sufficient energy project thanks to the use of clean energy and the recovery and reuse of water. It also collects rainwater. A set of 12 solar panels on the roof of the restaurant produces almost all of the electricity the premises requires. In the area of acoustic comfort, recycled and pressed wool panels have been applied under the ceiling. And the leftover material was used to cushion the bench seats.

Carulla has also used recycled textiles for the lamps. These are made from sections of recycled threaded rod from the building work on the premises. The production of elements has involved the work of artisan workshops such as Sastres Paperers, to make the handmade cotton paper discs.

The project also aims to have an impact on the community and on responsible consumption. The designed ensemble gives off a forceful image that in itself explains or allows one to intuit some of the processes followed. And as a restaurant, in addition to culinary satisfaction for customers, it seeks to generate a pedagogical experience.

Tramo is the second restaurant initiative of a company called Proyectos Conscientes in Madrid, after Mo de Movimiento. With Tramo, its creators wish to redefine the concept of urban leisure, promote responsible consumption and rethink and transform, starting from the values.



All images: © Juan Baraja