Brutal Burrito, Madrid

The interior design of a contemporary fast-food restaurant makes use of stainless steel, coloured plastic sheet and bare flooring to create a playful, street-feel atmosphere.

A casual street-food stall, a temporary kiosk where people meet over a drink and a snack, or a lively food truck that transiently catches the eye and whets the appetite of passers-by: Brutal Burrito, a Madrid-based restaurant, draws inspiration from fast-food formulas, embracing their spontaneity and reversibility, in line with a gastronomic concept involving a simple menu based on the best-known dishes from Mexican tradition. The venue’s philosophy is underscored by an edgy and intermittently brutalist (the clue is in the name) interior design by the architecture firm BURR, which has treated the space like a body to be dressed, establishing a clear distinction between clothed and naked areas.

It is the existing structural features that remain fixed, visible and unchanged, expressing a rough aesthetic with imperfectly plastered surfaces and floors that reflect the materiality of the surrounding pavements. Meanwhile, a system of plastic drapes has been put in place to divide and mark out the various areas of the restaurant. This styling device takes its cue from the way market-traders use fabric awnings to separate spaces and protect their stalls from rain and sun. To balance the street-inspired flavour of this solution with flexible sheets, the architects chose to give them a more classic appearance by creating gentle, arched shapes which, when viewed from outside, look rhythmically disconnected from the progression of the large windows in the façade. This unusual feature is deliberately designed to create a playful, irreverent atmosphere.

The kitchen area has a functional and technical appearance, thanks to extensive use of stainless steel as a hygienic surface on which to prepare and serve food. Steel is also used for the ceiling covering, which extends beyond the perimeter of the cooking area and imbues the entire space with its metallic reflectivity. The highlight of the kitchen area is undoubtedly the comal, an adaptation of the traditional pre-Columbian utensil used mainly in Mexico for cooking tortillas, which takes on a central position here, both physically and symbolically, by playing a key role in all the cooking operations carried out at Brutal Burrito. It is a polished stainless steel cylinder divided into two halves, a grille and an extractor hood, connected by nothing more than smoke and flames. Another hallmark of the environment is the tortilladora, an appliance specifically designed for making tortillas, which is rarely found outside Latin America and is enclosed here in a protective glass case.

The furniture designed for Brutal Burrito is based on the technique of bending aluminium tube, which is mainly used to make outdoor furniture for small bars and restaurants. A simple system of tubes with double bends thus provides legs for both the tables and stools. The table-tops and seats are made from slabs of high-density polyethylene, the material commonly used to make chopping boards for food preparation.

The finishing touch for the interior is a graphic design in the form of LED screens scattered around the restaurant to accentuate the transient funfair atmosphere and display messages and promotions relating to the products on sale.