design et al are delighted to announce that El Equipo Creativo have been shortlisted for Restaurant within a Hotel Award in The International Hotel and Property Awards
What was originally the entrance to the building for the horse-drawn carriages is today the entrance to the hotel and divides the most public part of the restaurant into two rooms. El Equipo Creativo designed both spaces under the same concept: a carefree atmosphere with a distinctly colourful character employing large graphic elements of colour with references to the ”Movida Madrileña” and the visual universe created by Almodovar, the well-known Spanish movie director.
The name of the restaurant ”Las Chicas, Los Chicos y Los Maniquies” was precisely the title of one of the songs which accompanied the ”Movida Madrileña” and whose lyrics are still part of our popular culture today. The main characters of this colourful universe are the two large red bars presiding over the two rooms. All morning they function as buffet tables for breakfast and as snack and beer bars during the remainder of the day – in the purest Madrid style.
Another important element of the popular culture of Madrid are the classic neighbourhood stores with their large window advertisements, attractive names and incredible offers. Sashes, hats and elaborate mannequins fill some of the scarce shop windows still left in this part of the city. Strange as it may seem, Atocha Street has managed to keep intact some of its more classic shops, to which our design wanted to pay sincere homage filling the space with large luminous posters with attractive commercial names.
In the lower part of the hotel, the restaurant has three small interconnected dining rooms where, once again, colour is the indisputable principal element. Each room achieves its own personality by use of a single colour: red, greenish and pink. Their walls covered in textiles as well as the chromatic choices seek to reference the noble rooms of 19th Century palatial homes.