Masquespacio Contemporizes a Greek Restaraunt in Valencia, Spain
Award-winning multidisciplinary design studio Masquespacio designed Egeo, a 100-square-meter Greek restaurant in Valencia, which opened in March 2022.
Owned by Ana and Thanasis, guests enjoy traditional Greek dishes prepared in an artisanal manner. Meals are prepared daily with fresh and natural ingredients and without synthetic or artificial additives.
With two established Egeo restaurants in Madrid, the owners wanted an interior design studio that could provide continuity to their existing brand identity. As Masquepsacion co-founder Chris Penasse recalls,
“When Ana and Thanasis told us that they wanted to open an Egeo in Valencia, we were excited about the idea because we have been keen to develop a Greek restaurant for a while. Above all, we also felt a special connection with their history. The biggest challenge was that they didn’t want a huge change in the design for their first space in Valencia. If you follow our work, you know that we like to break with the existing. Thus, it was a huge challenge for us to respect their minimalistic Greek design and, at the same time, offer a different experience. We initially maintained Egeo’s blue and white color palette, but tried to bring the space closer to Greece by applying cement-like materials that are typical for ancient Greek houses.”.
The walls with their organic forms represent the essence of Greek architecture, as do the blue-painted columns made to appear in a deteriorated state. The bar is situated in the middle of the space to take diners on a transformative experience of a mobile souvlaki takeout bar in the middle of a Greek market.
With the application of new production techniques and 21st-century technology, the studio sought to revisit the look of traditional columns and the texture of adobe finishes. They used a 3D printer and LED tubes to create a contemporary version of columns in blue. As co-founder of Maquespacio and creative director, Ana Milena Hernández explains,
“We tried to materialize an image of Greece beyond the usual white and blue color palette and to modernize traditional Greek architectural elements.”
The custom furniture and lighting fixtures are by local makers.
Address: Carrer del Literat Azorín, 8, 46006 València, Spain
Photography: Sebastian Erras
Masquespacio is an award-winning creative consultancy created in 2010 by Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse. Combining the two disciplines of their founders, interior design and marketing, the Spanish design agency creates branding and interior projects with fresh and innovative concepts. They have worked on projects in Norway, the USA, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Qatar, Italy, France, and Colombia. Read my exclusive interview with them in Profile: Masquespacio: Singular Designs.
Learn more about the work of Masquespacio in Restaurant in Valencia Transports Guests to an Adobe in the Desert, The Natural Environment Inspires Masquespacio’s Design of Restaurant in Huesca, and Masquespacio Designs Stunning Student Residence in Bilbao.
