In Bogotá a new restaurant stands in a northern residential neighborhood in Colombia. Studio Cadena, known for their playful and stylistic approach, creates a 7,500 square foot restaurant built with interconnected volumes each with a particular function. Built at residential scale, the restaurant is the second project the studio has done for Masa. Built on the same site as a former house that had gone through several rebuilds, Masa's Bogotá restaurant is the studio's largest built space.

According to Benjamin Cadena, the studio's founder and principal, “The idea is that everything is connected, but the spaces remain fragmented for intimacy. 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.” Split into three areas, the restaurant flows from from a cafe and bakery which is adjacent to the main dinning area and flows into a separate retail space. 

Working from the inside out, the interiors of the space ooze with the studio's signature play on color, texture, and shape. Everything from the surfaces, fixtures, and furniture were designed by the studio. The flowing orange and yellow hand painted mesh hang from the ceiling adding to the space's volume. The mesh also functions as a source to catch light as it enters through the large geometric windows. The sculptural lighting designs help identify the different volumes that make up the restaurant creating a beautiful transition through the space. The cast-in-place concrete walls texturize the space adding to it's unique look. As you make your way to the floor of the restaurant, the unique hand casted terrazzo tiles immediately draw attention. 

The restaurant exteriors can not be missed. The large geometric windows allow for natural light to seep through. The triangular cutout windows and entry create a rather distinct facade that allows for a flowy indoor-outdoor feel. The elemental details of the restaurant speak well to the area. Originally from Bogotá, Cadena states that the goal for the restaurant was to create a design context that would require minimal branding, thus allowing for the restaurant to do the work.