Ester Bruzkus Architekten approached the design of the new Berlin-Mitte restaurant REMI for chefs Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi by using architectural materials that are high in quality, carefully sourced and crafted, with rigorous attention to detail. The design is intended to emphasize simplicity and quality - and to enhance a dining experience that is authentic, straightforward and fun. Innovation: The design of REMI attempts to find the parallels between good architecture and good food. The chefs Lode van Zuylen and Stijn Remi are quite strict about the regionality, quality, and sustainability of their culinary ingredients – and they craft their dishes with rigor, precision, transparency, and authenticity. Ester Bruzkus Architekten approached the architectural design with the same intent as the chefs – planning an open and transparent space and using materials that are high in quality, carefully sourced, crafted, and detailed. The design is intended to emphasize the chefs’ approach to gastronomy: simplicity, authenticity, openness, sustainability, and quality. Creativity: In the detailing, EBA approached the architectural materials the way the chefs approach gastronomic ingredients: to highlight the inherent qualities of the materials - what they look like in cross-section, their thickness and depth, and how different materials make outside corners. The best example of this material approach is how the red-colored MDF is used for bespoke cabinetry - the color is not applied to the surface but all the interior fibers are through-dyed - so when the board is cut, it reveals its interior like a stick of butter. Color, like flavor, is inherent to the material. A similar approach is brought to other materials: granite, birch plywood, linoleum, textural stucco, and stainless steel. Materials are intended to come together like the high-quality ingredients of a dish to form a balanced whole. Functionality: The planning of the restaurant celebrates the task of preparing a meal with nothing to hide from the guests. At the center of the space is the open kitchen which is surrounded by tables that are always close to the food preparation. The open kitchen is surrounded by unfinished perforated aluminum panels that conceal acoustic baffling and are framed by overhead rings of lighting that emphasize circulation zones for diners. An important goal of the design was to retain the feeling of openness that comes from the very high exposed concrete ceilings and the expansive glass fronts on either side of the restaurant. Sustainability: The chefs Lode and Stijn were recently awarded the Michelin Green Star for using local food ingredients, preserving natural resources, protecting ecological diversity, and reducing food waste. The restaurant is designed to optimize these practices. The architectural design represents this ethic through careful sourcing and detailing of materials - for example featuring MDF with no added formaldehyde (NAF), and the use of through-dyed pigments rather than using supplementary finishing processes. Food is prepared in full view of diners so that the transparency of food sourcing and preparation is paralleled in the process of designing the restaurant itself.