Italiano
Separate routes
Customers and staff never cross: staff come in through the service exit and reach the changing room and kitchen without walking through the dining room.
DESIGN STUDY 04 · COMMERCIAL SPACE · RESTAURANT
Bistrot Lume
A 30-seat neighbourhood bistro with outdoor seating: warm atmosphere, controlled acoustics and a professional kitchen in under 20 m².
Street-level unit, city centre · Businesses · Restaurateurs
- Interior area
- 98 m²
- Seats
- 26 at tables + 4 at the bar
- Outdoor seating
- 19 m²
- Kitchen
- 18 m²
- Facilities
- Accessible WC, staff changing room
| Dining room | 60.2 m² |
|---|---|
| Kitchen | 18.36 m² |
| Washroom lobby | 2.88 m² |
| Accessible WC | 5.76 m² |
| Pantry | 3.24 m² |
| Staff WC | 3.24 m² |
| Staff area | 4.32 m² |
| Outdoor seating | 18.92 m² |
| Total interior | 98 m² |
| Outdoor spaces | 18.92 m² |
RENDERS · 7 IMAGES
Room by room.
Photographic renders calculated with real daylight. Tap an image to see it full screen.
THE BRIEF
The request.
Two partners take over a former 98 m² shop with street windows to open a bistro: coffee in the morning, lunch and dinner service. They want a place recognisable from the street, as many seats as possible without crowding, and a design that meets hygiene and accessibility requirements.
THE DESIGN
The idea.
The dining room runs along the shop windows: a continuous velvet banquette on the west wall, tables for four in the middle and the bar counter near the entrance, visible from the street. A pass-through links the kitchen to the bar and shortens service routes.
The back of house is strictly organised: kitchen, pantry, changing room and service exit are linked by a corridor that never crosses the customers’ route.
DESIGN CHOICES
Four decisions that make the difference.
The bar as a shop window
The counter clad in Mutina Puzzle tiles is the first thing seen from the street and works from morning coffee to aperitivo.
Acoustics
Caimi Snowsound sound-absorbing ceiling panels over the dining room: people talk without raising their voices, even when it is full.
Accessibility
Step-free entrance, accessible WC with lobby and a 150 cm turning space, as required by Italian Ministerial Decree 236/1989.
MATERIAL AND LIGHT
Real materials and products.
Every finish and every piece of furniture is on the market: the design can be priced and built exactly as it is.
FLOOR
Cast-in-place marble terrazzo, polished
BAR COUNTER
Mutina — Puzzle (Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby)
BANQUETTE
Forest-green velvet on a made-to-measure frame
TABLE TOPS
Calacatta Viola marble, honed
METALS
Burnished brass for shelves and handrails
CEILING
Caimi — Snowsound sound-absorbing panels
Dining room
- Thonet — 214 bentwood beech chairs
- Emeco — Navy Chair outdoors
- Flos — Glo-Ball S over the banquette (Jasper Morrison)
- Louis Poulsen — PH Artichoke in the centre of the room (Poul Henningsen)
Bar counter
- HAY — About A Stool AAS 32 (Hee Welling)
- La Marzocco — Linea PB espresso machine
Kitchen
- Rational — iCombi Pro combi oven
- Electrolux Professional — cooking line
- Winterhalter — UC series undercounter dishwasher
Facilities
- Ponte Giulio — grab bars and aids for the accessible WC
Download the product sheet Floor plan, room renders and every product with sizes, finishes and links to the manufacturers (in Italian).
ENGINEERING
The engineering.
IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE360° tour of the dining room in two moods, day and evening, for presentations to partners and opening announcements.
- Kitchen extraction through a roof flue with make-up air; forced ventilation of service rooms.
- Washable kitchen floors and walls, coved joints, hands-free wash basins.
- Heat-pump air conditioning with ducted units in the acoustic false ceiling.
- Scene-based lighting: coffee, lunch, dinner, cleaning.
Design study developed by Vistelia: it is not a commissioned project or an existing property. The products listed are real specification references chosen by the studio; there is no partnership with the brands mentioned.