Vienna, Austria

«schon Schön»

When the urban and chic restaurant schon schön opened its doors right in the heart of the 7th district last year, it quickly became an institution that many would not want to miss. The space spanning 180 m2 is filled with life by three friends using the premises as a restaurant, a hairdressers and a tailors. For the restaurant part, SUE ARCHITEKTEN developed a strong architectural concept which serves as a spine for this arena of baroque joie de vivre.

Facing the street, this restaurant, hair salon and tailors are unobtrusively intertwined and yet most naturally separated at the same time. The demure interior design allows for plenty of freedom while at the same time provides these strictness which is necessary for the operators abundant creativity. To achieve this, precious wood veneer is combined with economical white Resopal laminate. This choice of materials aims to balance the friendly and inviting luxurious urbanity characteristic of the schon schön with the necessary reserved simplicity.

The dining area accommodates up to 22 guests that can all be seated at a single table. This area centres around communication and a joyful dining experience. Much like a natural extension, the bar serves as a kind of maintenance station for the table and as a sprawling counter for the hurried espresso lover and the occasional Prosecco epicure. The focal point of the hair salon section, is a single mirror any distraction through unnecessary accessory is thus avoided. The same is true for the tailors: one spacious table for consultations as well as for sketching, tailoring, and manufacturing is placed next to a clothes rack displaying a selection of prototypes.

In addition, three coloured pocket-like areas – one for each of the three friends are used as a kitchen, lavatory and fitting room. These demure yet visible extensions underline the distinctive character of this urban hot spot by visibly integrating the miscellaneous cumbersome activities which more often than not remain out of sight. By opening up and overlapping these functional spaces towards working areas these procedures which are necessary in the manufacturing process are unobtrusively rendered visible for the visitor. And it is this quality which makes for the spaces authenticity and its charms. Paired with the owners relaxed joie de vivre, this results in an exciting mix going way beyond the often so short-lived hype.

Europaconcorsi Beta

«schon Schön»