Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Year: 2010-2011
Project by (GRUPA) - a group of 7 volunteer designers, artisans and architects.

The Working restaurant (Gostilna dela) is a social enterprise project organised around catering and food activities, within the Job Factory social union, through which youngsters who are threatened by long-term unemployment and social exclusion are trained and employed.

Within the project 20 youngsters who are not well educated or have left schooling for work and independent life will be trained. The restaurant offers employment and inclusion in the working process to 5 youngsters who live far from the employment market.

An important goal of the project is developing a model for the social integration of vulnerable groups of youngsters, training and work/employment in a social enterprise of food and catering activity.

(GRUPA) was responsible for
the organisation of workshops that served to connect the place with the local community, promotion,
fund-raising, collection of used materials,
architecture, graphic design,
product design and fabrication of all furniture.

The WORK FOR A SNACK (Delavnica za malico) workshops took place in the restaurant and invited all interested people to help with their own ideas, knowledge and hands-on development of the restaurant. In return we offered them a snack prepared by our cooks.

Workshops were an important part of the process of co-creation of the place. Through workshops we gathered ideas and necessary knowledge, we created links between the local population, employees and project partners we took care of the project promotion and we assisted with integration of the restaurant into a local environment. We cooperated with the local population, various experts and consultants, with all who could contribute to a better design of the restaurant.

The DESIGN of the Working Restaurant, focuses primarily on the “common man”. Our thinking process was comprehensive and future oriented. We built on the basis of the so-called “self-supplying” principle, which can be adapted to suite the needs of the user.

The kitchen was completely refurbished and
opened up to the guests. In this way the cooks would also be the visual centre of attention of the restaurant. The main counter top is accessible from both sides which makes it perfect for everyday display and different after hours workshops. It follows the line of the existing bar counter that was painted in white but still shows the lines of the brick structure. The existing ceiling was preserved and mended while the existing wooden floor and bench were polished to its natural view.

The chairs and tables was recycled and restored, while the table tops and bench back was made from old palettes.

The overall feeling is a mix of old and new where  parts of the previous cafes and restaurant (there were several previous owners) can be seen trough the white paint but at the same time are combined with new elements.