FOGON 

Location

Saedan Mall, Riad, KSA

Hitzig Militello Architects

Project Team

Construction Documents:

Arch. Lucia Moron
Arch. Julieta Setton

Construction documents reviews

Arch. Lucia Moron

Architectural Program

Restaurant Fun & Bar

Surface

Ground Floor 177 m2

First floor 87 m2

General Constructor

Eng. Aqeel Ac Technical

Renders

Arch. Eliana Gonzalez

Photographer

Mohammed Shehab Din

Consultants

Estudio HMA

Melisa Rivas (Estudio Nuar)

Manuela Ventura (Estudio Nuar)

Crista Bernasconi

Year

2019

Abstract

The idea of a typical traditional London tavern, pub aesthetics was the premise of our client. In order to do so, we looked for concepts of the spirit of traditional British taverns, without falling into typical resources, nor losing the focus of the idea of a classic European restaurant with a contemporary artistic touch.

The proposal was based on the idea of resorting to materials that define this architectural aesthetic, although far from reproducing, we decided to extirpate only its DNA: "The windows of iron window frames and bare bricks. These two elements were then used in different ways throughout the venue and basically set the location’s mood.

The idea was to interlace through an interior skin system that covered all the walls and the most outstanding functional spaces. This great system is composed by an organization of bricks and windows.

The compositional system of the bricks mutes to become "aerial" walls, with open joints crossed by screwed rods. This gave us an ethereal composition that allows us to resolve the proposal in a non-linear way to the original suggestion of a traditional London tavern. 

Glazed sections have different levels of transparency, in some cases without glasses and in others with old glasses or translucent or opaque glasses organized according to the functionality of each space, referencing the smoked glass of British pubs. This system of glass structure accompanies the entire interior.

The wooden bar and floor are references to the pub and also add a touch of warmth to the environment, underscored by the partially coffered ceiling featuring floral decorations.
Fogon alludes to the customary material language of English pubs but we have interpreted it in a way that fits its location.

The façade has the same system of distributed glass structures and open-joint brick walls in a composition in conjunction with the double door access.  We developed a metal framework system, a kind of breezy brick lattice that is vaguely reminiscent of the mashrabiya, a kind of projecting oriel window characteristic of Arabic residences, in this case much less ornate than the traditional carved woodwork.