Culinary architecture. Restaurant “[Wer ist] Stratmann?” by smartvoll

Description of project by smartvoll

Once the market hall, located on the outskirts of Salzburg, serves as a production hall for panzers and munitions.

The restaurant preserves the original, industrial style. Smartvoll celebrates the existing room by letting it kind of simple and raw and on the same time structuring it completely new. The choice of the material is manifold, but coincident – old things are highlighted, and new things are arranged conspicuously. The basic concept: to think about room and function in a new way.

In the restaurant “Wer ist Stratmann” (engl. „Who´s Stratmann”) everything is organized in layers like those of an onion. The kitchen and the cooker are placed in the centre – visible in a box of glass, but hidden behind a corten steel construction which serves as a huge shelf for wine, because the restaurant also invites for wine tasting. 13 Vintner have the chance to present their own wines on tables, desks and bars in front of the shelf. There is place for more than 5.000 bottles of wine in the delicate, corten shelf. The room around the kitchen is formed by this translucent layer made of glass, metal and bottles of wine. A sculpture that shapes the room. Because of the permanent change of the arrangement and the quantity of bottles, the guests have permanent contact with the kitchen and vice versa. Perspectives and insights change permanently, kitchen and restaurant operate alternately as the stage or as an auditorium – right in the middle instead of just being there!

Huge tables are arranged around the kitchen, the shelf for wine and desks, which are used for bigger groups or companies, on the verge of this smaller tables for two or four people following. Material and design produce a vital order. The old brick walls stay part of the structure and reappear in the pattern of the carpet. The good acoustics are complement by the insulation materials on the floor.

Also, in the outdoor zone continue the design of the manifold mix of materials– the unity arises by place, the proceedings and the context. The floor-to-ceiling walls of glass between restaurant and terrace can be closed with big gates – another reminiscence to the existing industrial function of the hall. The “Stratmann´s” is not only an eye-catcher for its guest, also the operator of the restaurant lives the culinary experience. The operator himself describes his kitchen as “seasonal, traditional and modern, creative, hot and cold”. The variety is the most important aspect of the restaurant – you can see it everywhere.