city in space - locations


Tortilleria Flash Flash
Il Giardinetto
Reno




In the early 1970s, the area around the Calle Tuset was the nocturnal centre for Barcelona's younger generation. Restaurants, bars and discotheques are all packed closely together. It was here between 1961 and 1973 that the Catalan architects Federico Correa Ruiz and Alfonso Milà Sagnier built three restaurants, all of which are in original condition - as if only opened yesterday. 1961, the Reno restaurant: With a reference to Catalan Modernisme at the turn of the century, Correa and Milà hit on the taste of the time. Ox-blood-red carpets, round tables with white tablecloths, blind-arch wall panelling of subtly reflective rice paper, and black leather sofas. Their postmodern interplay creates an atmosphere of sophisticated elegance - just the right atmosphere for a business meal. - After that in 1969 came Flash Flash, the pop appeal of which was as suited to the London of the Swinging Sixties as it was to the New York of Andy Warhol. Planned together with the owner, photographer Leopoldo Pomés, the "Flash" became a leitmotif: the black silhouette of a model taking a photo, in a roll- neck pullover, flared trousers and a cheekily placed cap connects photography and fashion. Her flash shines from the walls and bathes the room in bright light; round windows open up the view of a nocturnal scene being staged inside as well as out. White, comfortably upholstered benches subdivide the room and create a staggered series of eating niches - blow-up effects that become clear in the photo. - The restaurant Il Giardinetto followed in 1973. By that time the flower children had arrived in the city, and had become elegant and socially acceptable. Inspired by Boules Frenchmen playing under spring trees, the architects designed the room as an artificial outside room. The projecting pillars became trees, their lime-green leafy canopy blending into the ceiling. In this canopy the guests dine off rattan cane furniture, well served and well informed by Señor Angel, the maître de maison. At the semicircular cocktail bar, with a bit of luck, you can drink your sherry with architects Correa, Milà and Bofill.