28/12/2011 – Milan is the second stop on the European tour of The Cube, a nomadic, stateless architecture open to the world: a pavilion decorated in modern style and designed, for a limited period, to host a small restaurant.
Electrolux entrusted the traveling restaurant to Absolute Blue, a Brussels event agency responsible for the concept and organization. The studio Park Associati in Milan handled the architecture and interior design, while Studio FM devised the logo and designed the texture of the pavilion skin.
After the opening of The Cube in Brussels, where the restaurant was active from April to July 2011 on the arch of Cinquantenaire Park, the Milan edition served 18 people at a time for lunch and dinner from December 19, overlooking the unique scenery of Piazza del Duomo, a few meters from the cathedral spires, the Royal Palace and the newly renovated rooms of the Arengario Palace, which houses the Museum of the Twentieth Century.
From the opening until April 26, 2012, The Cube hosted some of Italy’s best chefs, offering customers show cooking with menus created especially for the restaurant kitchen.
The architectural design by Park Associati offers a temporary form able to adapt to all climatic situations, even the most extreme, while expressing comfort through high aesthetic and material value.
The lightness of the pavilion is emphasized by its external form, white color and clear volumes, thanks also to the use of a laser-cut aluminum skin with a geometric texture that covers the entire exterior surface. The base of the building, slightly elevated above the floor on which it rests, reinforces the idea of lightness and formal cleanliness that characterizes the entire structure.
Inside, The Cube was designed to adapt to different configurations. The pavilion can transform from a large open space with kitchen and a single large table for 18 seats into an after-dinner lounge by lifting elements toward the ceiling.
The total area is 140 square meters, divided between the open space and a 50-square-meter terrace.
The materials used are considered highly innovative and technological, with attention to environmental sustainability, energy conservation and constant reuse.
The interiors also feature high-level solutions for lighting, thermal systems, sound diffusion and, of course, all kitchen appliances.
Writing about the project, Michele De Lucchi described it as an open project: too often, solutions solve problems but leave no room for imagination, innovation or evolution. This Cube, which has little of the traditional cube, has great driving force and immediately appears for what it is: a challenge and a stimulus for thought and imagination.
miranda_shida
Anna Lohan
