The Red Pif restaurant was designed into the ground-floor areas in the Zlatý anděl office complex (by Jen Nouvel, 1995-2001), located in one of the busiest places in Prague. We understand the universal fully glazed frame for rent as a grid into which anything can be inserted at any time, and that is what we wanted in our design.
The interior designed by us is, therefore, a deliberate installation to a certain extent ¬– transience is contained here as well as richness, contrasting with the austere frame of the building. A pub should have its specific atmosphere, its own … set design. Considering the location (and the concept), we wanted the interior to have something of both a metropolitan promenade and a classic pub. Something between Prague’s Art Deco Café Imperial and Selská jizba (a Czech folk pub. Even the chef, after all, likes the cuisine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the First Republic, although in a stylised, fractal form: because it is also Anděl – a place where the freak-out and circus of life are still going on every day.
Composite tectonics, simple details, simply worked and arranged spruce wood, which becomes gradually stained and patinated – the principle of a shop window as one big company logo. The atmosphere is complemented by original lighting fixtures designed by Rony Plesl and installations by Petr Písařík. The space has two floors and about 150 seats.
That is why considering this size, we wanted it to offer various atmospheres and situations: downstairs, accessed straight from the street, Red Pif can be a place for a business lunch, meetings during the day, and a drink or one beer on the way home from work. The first floor is more intimate: dining, gathering with friends … we added a corner for regulars, a lounge. All these spaces blend, rooms melt into one another, and they are not separated: depending on the mood, everyone can choose where to sit or stand.
