Beer house SPLÜGEN BRÄU

SPLÜGEN BRÄU

Beer house and restaurant Corso Europa, Milan

Project: Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Graphics: Max Huber

1960 Client: B.R.A. (Birrerie-Ristoranti e Affini) - Aldo Bassetti

A ground floor beer house and restaurant in Corso Europa in a building designed by Luigi Caccia Dominioni.

The main space opening onto Corso Europa was occupied by a multi-level restaurant connected to a snack bar and café.

The kitchen communicated directly with the snack bar by way of two small serving hatches and opened onto the restaurant with an ample serving counter; it was connected to the street through a corridor made under the restaurant’s highest flight of steps.

An internal staircase led to the lower level containing the pantries, refrigerators, rooms for meat and vegetable preparation, the staff sitting room and bathrooms, the offices and the heating and air conditioning plants. The cloakroom and bathrooms for clients were on a lower level.

To make the best possible use of the space, the restaurant was organized in tiered spaces with about eighty covers distributed over three different levels that went from zero to 2.4 m high.

Floors, wall panelling, pillars and furniture were all in walnut, complemented by an array of different fittings: table supports in polished brass, chair cushions covered in green cloth, the entrance aisle laid with sheets of polished trachyte and bordered by grey slate.

Tables and chairs fastened to the floor accommodated either two or four diners, with room for an extra person seated on a chair or a light stool. Ceramic tiles with the table number were put on the backrests of the fixed chairs.

Walnut was also used for the furniture, the serving tables and the moulding running along the walls and pillars. The ceiling and walls were painted tobacco brown.

The air conditioning ducts (painted glossy dark brown), the wiring for illumination and the loudspeakers suspended from the ceiling were all in plain view.

The interior design was researched down to the smallest detail in order to satisfy all the environmental and functional exigencies of this typical eating and drinking spot.

Along with the aluminium pulley lamps above the tables (with metal mirror reflectors inside and outside and a corrugated section to increase the surface and disperse heat), produced later by Flos and called Splügen Bräu, were the general lighting sources (the Zatalux series with Zeiss mirror reflectors).

A mirror on the back wall in the snack bar lit by wall lamps reflected the wooden counter and the row of seats. The raised floor under the stools (more like chairs than perches), made sitting easier. The black enamelled metal stools were Thonet-like and had an extremely long backrest to protect clients from the passage of others (the length of the stool legs was playfully transferred to the high backrests).

A big weight clock signalled every quarter hour by ringing four bells.

Umbrella stands and floor ashtrays in enamelled metal, later called Servopluvio and Servofumo, were specially designed by the project planners.

The entry in Corso Europa was inserted into the large, vertical luminous sign outside (designed by Max Huber) that masked the gap (the service entrance) between the old house next door and the building with the beer house.

Max Huber was in charge of all the lettering, from the outdoor signs to the inscriptions on the cutlery, glasses and plates, and the graphic layout for the menus and wine lists.