Studio Cadena

Masa

Masa
© Naho Kubota

MASA

Studio Cadena

ARCHITECTS
Studio Cadena

LOCATION
Bogota, Colombia

CATEGORY
Restaurant

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Benjamin Cadena, Studio Cadena

CONSTRUCTION & COORDINATION
MRB S.A. and ODQ S.A..

AREA
7500.0 ft2

PROJECT YEAR
2018

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
JGMC Ingeniería

PHOTOGRAPHS
Naho Kubota, Benjamin Cadena, Ambiente Familiar

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Ingeniería y Proyectos de Infraestructura

MANUFACTURERS
Accesorios y Acabados

MECHANICAL ENGINEER
Arquitectura & Bioclamiatica

PLUMBING ENGINEER
Byc Ingenieros Hidraulicos

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEER
Alfonso Uribe S & Cia.

LIGHTING CONSULTANT
ClaroOscuro Lighting Design

ACOUSTICAL CONSULTANT
Ambientes Arquitecturales

AV CONSULTANT
John Osorio

MILLWORK FABRICATION
LETTO

CLIENT
Masa

Text description provided by architect.

New York City-based Studio Cadena has designed Masa, a new restaurant in a northern residential neighborhood of Bogotá, Colombia. 

Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Ambiente Familiar

The restaurant is built on a residential scale, on the site of a former house. This is the second and largest space that Studio Cadena has designed for Masa, the first, also in Bogotá, is a smaller cafe that opened in 2014.

The 7,500-square-foot building is organized as a grouping of distinct but interconnected volumes, each with a particular function.

Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Benjamin Cadena

At one corner sits a cafe and bakery, which flows into the central entrance area that is adjacent to a dining volume and separate retail space.

An outdoor patio space provides garden seating and connects the public spaces to the kitchen in the rear.

Masa
© Benjamin Cadena
Masa
© Naho Kubota

Elements such as a long concrete bar, cylindrical wood-clad service station, and a multi-tiered seating platform at the entrance serve to modulate the space.

Says Studio Cadena founder and principal Benjamin Cadena about his design, “The idea is that everything is connected, but the spaces remain fragmented for intimacy.

Masa
© Benjamin Cadena
Masa
© Ambiente Familiar

In any space in the restaurant you might hear or smell things that give a sense of the adjacent spaces, but it isn’t completely open. The design defines distinct spatial volumes yet allows you to move through them with the freedom of an open plan.”

From the exterior, the triangular cutout windows and entry open the facade to the street, meeting the life of the sidewalk and revealing the life within the restaurant.

Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Naho Kubota

The geometric windows, including a large circular window that looks into the garden from the kitchen, adds to the playful, graphic quality of the space’s indoor-outdoor language.

Says Cadena, “This project’s indoor-outdoor continuity is intentional, but presents a challenge in Bogotá, where the weather is perennial spring or fall and can be cold, chilly, or wet.

Masa
© Ambiente Familiar
Masa
© Benjamin Cadena
Masa
© Benjamin Cadena

In this case, we wanted to be sure that you could always feel the presence of what’s being made here, and that the space remained open to itself and to the street, and was invited to the city.”

A playfulness continues in the surfaces, fixtures, and furniture, all designed by Studio Cadena.

Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Ambiente Familiar

Distinct sculptural lighting designs serve to distinguish the different volumes – large paper globes light the corner café, while hand-painted metal mesh hung from the ceiling catches the natural light in the middle volume.

A unique floor made from large, hand-cast terrazzo tiles embedded within traditional terrazzo covers the interior public spaces. The walls are made of textured, cast-in-place concrete.

Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Benjamin Cadena

These elements are born of an interest in updating techniques commonly used in Bogotá (such as terrazzo) as well as introducing new ones that are unique to the area - all part of a loose, cross-referential design context, and a restaurant that requires minimal branding.

“The strategy from a design standpoint was that the architecture does the work”, says Cadena.


Masa
© Naho Kubota
Masa
© Ambiente Familiar


Masa
Model 1
Masa
Model 2


Masa
Elevations
Masa
Sections
Masa
Floor Plan

Studio Cadena
T +1 646 7809626
Studio Cadena
119 8th St #211, Brooklyn, NY 11215, United States