The small rum bar Campana del Rey is located in the heart of Munich’s old town on the second basement floor of a small residential building. The vaulted cellar probably dates back to the 16th century. The upper floors have undergone several phases of conversion. As part of a restructuring of the building, the house was rebuilt from the second floor upwards and extended downwards to a third basement level. The vaulted cellar, which was only around 1.70 m high, was extended and excavated by hand and the brick supports and walls were gradually underpinned. During this process, the benches, bar and high table were also concreted directly onto the underpinnings. The benches and bar thus simultaneously form the foundations and furniture of the building.
Guests and the building thus sit on the new foundations, which carry and support the building. This also creates a clear separation between the downward extension and the historic building fabric. The existing brick structures themselves were not interfered with. Various layers of plaster were removed and their original appearance was exposed. Only the areas at risk of splashing water were clad and protected with a red natural stone. The visible broken edges of the stone block meant that there were no offcuts and the entire stone block could be processed without loss.
Buero Wagner
The necessary building services were installed under the concrete ceiling in the bar area – heating and ventilation are located in the floor. The vault itself was kept free of installations except for lighting and sound. Two- and three-seater bar stools made of solid aluminum were manufactured as counterparts to the metal piping systems. The chairs and concrete surfaces are upholstered in black leather. A leather curtain also forms the front end of the bar. Half of this was made from leftovers and offcuts from upholstery production and conceals passageways and a shelf. Only bench-like seating was deliberately provided in the entire bar area. When arranging their height and distance from each other, great care was taken to create different seating positions and thus different communicative seating areas. In some cases, the spacing and arrangement was chosen so that people could withdraw into an intimate space.
Others, on the other hand, were arranged to make it easy to strike up a conversation with the other person. The spaces in between are used for placing drinks and as distance between the individual situational zones. The bar itself was also planned as a large, solid and central element without barriers. A large, flat table is intended to promote immediacy and communication as well as interaction with one another.
Photo
Kim Fohmann, Fabian Wagner, Louise Daussy
