Dulcamara | Daniela Colli

Dulcamara is located in the famous nightlife zone called Ponte Milvio in Rome, also famous for the ‘locks’ attacked by the lovers to the lamp's central bridge swearing eternal love. The restaurant opened in 1995, the client wished to preserve the original atmosphere, thanks to a skilful operations, the project managed to preserve the soul of the location, the result was outside of the box, an architecture that deliberately draws on the contrast between modernity and tradition, blending formal, textural and linguistic code that appear to different periods. A contemporary look has been reformulated for Dulcamara originated from a restraint design and an innovative, cool elegance, the result being a sophisticated minimalism and a formal reduction to the essential. the design is based on the folded paper forms of Japanese origami, reproduced in black steel and wood like a seductive skin, the project features contrasting materials and colours: oak and steel as representatives of tradition and innovation, an integration of nature and artifice. The juxtaposition of soft oak and black declined in its various material aspects creates an exclusive, theatrical environment, where the warmth of the natural texture is enhanced by the contrast with the black surfaces, these come up as oak for the origami counter, the centrepiece of this eatery that busteles with life every hour and day where the relationships between the visitors and the staff are maximed, and as black steel for the origami bottle rack that became a metal partition to separate a more intimate space for people who loves to have a special dinner. The light system contributes to soft and intimate atmospheres: it enhances the black steel origami by means of halogen sources Extensor by Lucifero’s, it is an eye-catcher above the counter thanks to sculptural Beat light lamps by Tom Dixon mixed in wide, fat and tall version, or it highlight by the black Bolster by Modular or it gets highly technological to emphasize the origami counter through a strip LED.