BURR
BURR
O’Bochinche takes as its starting point the combination of three references from Galician culinary tradition: the tavern, the octopus fair, and the village festival.
The predominant value is given to the tradition linked to «pulpo a feira» (fair-style octopus), originally prepared in street stalls during periodic fairs in small towns. The spaces that host this process are usually covered by standardized plastic tents, with the entire preparation and cooking process exposed to visitors: storage of boxes and beverages, bread bars waiting to be sliced, steaming pots, kitchenware from support bars, refrigeration chests, and prepared and yet-to-be-prepared food.
The strategy focuses on transferring the ephemeral values of this space to a static container. The space, therefore, incorporates the resources and mechanisms typically found at fairs, becoming a kind of exploited tent. A plastic canvas greets visitors upon entering the space and reappears at the back, closing off the dining area. The experience is a journey through different spaces of informal Galician gastronomy. Visitors enter a tavern, pass through the kitchen and storage area, then arrive at the fair’s dining area and finally reach the festival tent.
Each of the spaces incorporates characteristic elements and materials of these places, such as granite, stainless steel and rough mortars. The nature of the space is infrastructural, resembling more of a fish market than a restaurant. The entire space is meant to be cleaned with a hose and mop, thanks to a waterproof flooring and a system of drains distributed throughout the space. Concerning the kitchen logistics, all necessary elements are exposed, from the plastic crates with beverages to kitchenware and steaming pots. To enable this process, a series of elements are introduced to act as support structures, marked in yellow, serving as hanging points for curtains, utensils, cleaning hoses, lighting fixtures, etc. In contrast to this functional object composition, an informal decoration project gradually occupies the perimeter walls: photos with customers, old football team pictures, cycling trophies, Xacobeo figures, or souvenirs from friends of cooks and owners.
The kitchen acts as the heart of the project, both spatially and conceptually. It is configured as the core of the facilities from which all extraction, ventilation and air-conditioning ducts originate. This is also where the kitchen equipment and extractor hoods are located. This volume is covered with Sargadelos-type ceramics, a historical factory in the area specializing in ceramic coloring in blue tones.
Finally the diner, halfway between a storage space and a fair dining area, is covered with a striped plastic canvas in two colors, serving as a threshold between an interior and an exterior space.
O’Bochinche is a dual strategy. On the one hand, it is a typical Galician eatery that takes elements from the rituals and popular customs of the area and, on the other hand, it is a space that uses technical elements to make a traditional avant-garde restoration and cuisine project possible.
O’Bochinche was designed and built by BURR (E.Fuertes, R.Martínez, A.Molins, J.Sobejano) in Madrid in 2020. Amanda Bouzada, Jesús Meseguer and Pablo Navas were part of the team. The outcome was photographed by Maru Serrano.
