Strasbourg-based architecture firm Nara has refurbished a building from the 1850s, a former carpentry barn, into a pared-back restaurant serving local French cuisine.

As the project takes place into an 1850s carpentry, the main focus is to showcase the qualities of the existing building; a remarkable construction for its volume and materials. The layout places the open-plan kitchen at the heart of the space, standing against an opaque mass hosting the washing station and the toilets.

These spaces standing apart from the existing walls structure the large and open public space of the restaurant into subspaces, following a simple hierarchy: entrance, lounge, dining area. The use of stretched felt on the walls, up to two meters high, maintains a visual continuity of the carpeted floor while ensuring high-performance thermal and acoustic insulation. The higher part of the walls and the underside of the ceiling are simply cleaned and left in their original state as a testimony of the authenticity of the place.