“The architect-gastronomic concept of a restaurant” is the proposal of the Silestone Institute round table which was hold in the Basque Culinary Center, within the framework of “Dialogues of Architecture and Gastronomy”.

Dani García, chef and entrepreneur of the Restaurant Dani García, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, architect responsible for the project and Santiago Alfonso, Director of the Silestone Institute have shared the experience of the creation of the new kitchen of this restaurant located in the Hotel Puente Romano (Marbella).

Dani García said that this space is the result of the new requirements of design and materials both to express his kitchen and his creativity as well as the satisfaction of customers who come seeking new sensory and emotional experiences. For his part, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, architect responsible for the kitchen explained the importance of the preliminary analysis of the environment to find its essence, stressing that it looked first for the functionality and aesthetics.

Both chef and architect, agreed on the importance of the concept when it comes to partitioning the space between the actual kitchen area and restaurant room: two areas of equal size separated by glass through which the guest can observe the movements of the cooks. A guest who also sees satisfied the need to interact in the kitchen through a spectacular hydraulic table of two heights which serves both to serve for the dishes.

Last generation materials

Such a space has very stringent demands both technical and aesthetic and hygienic. In this sense, innovation in surface allows to develop cutting-edge materials to meet the high demands of a professional kitchen. Specifically Dani García’s kitchen has been made entirely with Dekton material and on large panels.

According to its architect Juan Carlos Rodríguez and Dani García this material has great advantages. Santiago Alfonso, Director of the Silestone Institute and VP of Marketing & Communication of Cosentino, the manufacturer of the material, said that Dekton is a surface made with the most advanced technology result of 6 years of research. It is a material of ceramic order based on clay, quartz and coming from different places that are ultracompacted to extraordinary pressure acquiring characteristics that make it ideal for use in such spaces. The high performance of the Dekton both in functionality and decoration make it reference in hotel and catering materials both in the realization of countertops as well as in floors. Its durability, resistance, hygiene, touch and texture that allows even to be sculpt and customized, as is the case with Dani García’s kitchen.

The future of the kitchen materials

Dekton, already defined by Santiago Alfonso as “product technology platform” in the future may evolve looking for greater lightness and color to texture and vein patterns that simulate the natural in all its structure. And speaking of future these experts agreed in the trend towards kitchens merged with the dining rooms, both in professional environments such as domestic, seeking the interaction between both environments, as well as more malleable and flexible spaces.