AMO e lino Pizzabar | Atelier ushitamborriello

Some time ago, we started thinking about a new catering offer together as a team of restaurant operators, food experts and restaurant specialists. What was missing in the gastronomic landscape? How could we revitalise smaller spaces in the city centre? And how could we expand our existing expertise or utilise it in a different context? As a concept that could be multiplied in a wide variety of locations?
 
The AMOelino pizza bar, the result of our deliberations, opened this spring in the centre of Zurich on the dynamic Limmatplatz. Through the large windows, one looks - slightly elevated - into an open space dominated by a central polymorphic bar. A textile installation in the form of a red circle floats above it, a widely visible landmark of this pizza bar.
Preparing the food and drinks in front of the guests creates a pleasant immediacy. The bar as a counter connects rather than separates the dining area and the workspace. The concept of this bar follows the idea of a modular bar body that can be adapted to the respective spatial structure. Straight functional elements are connected at different angles via the so-called "Connettore". This results in countless possible combinations for the configuration of this bar where you can drink, eat, talk and discover. The large pizza oven is the centrepiece for the preparation of Pizza, Puccia, and Foccacia, closes the ring of the bar.
The pizza bar's range is displayed on a simple, filigree shelf: Full-bodied wines, Italian spirits and - surprising and tempting at the same time - large preserving jars in which antipasti and dolce are stored and presented.
 
Beyond the spatial appearance, a visionary gastronomic format has been developed.
An increase in the depth of the offer counters a reduction in the breadth of the offer.
Accompanied by innovations in food preparation, recipes and typologies:
You can pick up a pizza here with the Puccia - just like in Puglia. Whether at the bar or
the rounded terrazzo tables in front of the façade windows.
 
The overall spatial concept of the AMOelino pizza bar is also uncomplicated and approachable:
Working with and in the existing building had a decisive influence on its appearance. The existing cement screed was sanded and repaired in a few places, the white-painted plaster walls of the existing building were unorthodoxly covered with a paint roller in two colours of silver-grey and deep red, the suspended ceiling was removed, exposed and coloured anthracite together with the technical installations. The lighting concept coherently follows the spatial organisation principle, orienting itself on the central red canopy above the bar, dividing it like pizza slices with light rails from which spotlights and industrial luminaires are suspended.
 
The result is an urban, fresh yet iconographic bar dedicated to quality and direct encounters on various levels: a pizza bar as it lives and breathes!