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Roca, Aduriz and Atala explain the keys of their kitchens in a book about restaurants architecture

Silestone Institute presented the book “90 cm Above Floor Level. Restaurant Architecture: High Performance Sustainable Facilites” at Madrid Fusión

(link video presentation)

Three great chefs participated at Madrid Fusion in the presentation of the book “90 cm Above Floor Level”, whose authors are the dietitian and nutritionist Yolanda Sala Vidal and the architect and ecodesigner Jordi Montañés Biñana. The book was edited by Silestone Institute defining the concepts and standards of the current dining facilities and research needs of haute cuisine. Andoni Luis Aduriz, Joan Roca and Alex Atala, who collaborated on the book’s contents providing opinions about their kitchen equipment, and Joxe-Mary (Basque Culinary Center) have been participants of the event in Madrid Fusion.

The book is an initiative to provide criteria and references to the professionals involved in the world of catering and in profesional kitchen in order to facilitate operational fluency.

According to Santiago Alfonso, General Secretary of Silestone Institute, “with this publication the Institute Silestone wants to respond the gap in the commercial catering area”. “We have had the great pleasure of having input from renamed chefs and schools as well as Toni Massanés from Fundación Alicia, who has prefaced the book”.

Marta Fernandez Guadaño was the responsible for introducing the book. According to her, it is “a very important contribution to the global hospitality industry”, and that “today the kitchen has multidisciplinary approach” and the publication will be useful for chefs “because it reflects the experience of the great, wich is applicable to any restaurant business”.

Andoni Aduriz said that the challenge to adapt the space available to a cook, in his words, “usually not ready to be a restaurant”- to the needs of each chef. In that regard, he noted that what he sought in his kitchen when the facility was designed “an atmosphere of serenity, order and cleanliness that encouraged creativity”. “There is a perfect kitchen?” asked third best chef in the world by Restaurant magazine. “Probably not, but there is a kitchen that suits how I work. If you are fine you cook well”.

The Brazilian Alex Atala said that one of the biggest challenges for a chef is to create an environment “in which to make the kitchen you want”, which if passed by results “productive, human and sustainable.”

Joan Roca of El Celler de Can Roca, explained the evolution of the various facilities in which he has worked, in line with its growth as a cook, and said that the construction of El Celler de Can Roca for more than five years have meant for him fulfill a dream. “The kitchen was the engine by changing our space”, admitted to the audience of Madrid Fusion, “and I wanted a spacious and comfortable to let me all the techniques.”

From a pedagogical standpoint spoke Joxe-Mari Aizega (Basque Culinary Center) and Toni Massanés (Alicia Foundation). Aizega told that the publication will be used in undergraduate and some masters of the Basque Culinary Center, as “a student should know that the design of a facility and processes affecting the work environment, the efficiency and the bottom line “.

The title of the book “90 cm Above Floor Level” is because it is the optimum height of culinary work surfaces. It symbolizes the counter which prepares the best dish that can be created in a kitchen, understood as the result of joint work of the various professionals involved in the process of creating and running a restaurant, from the initial design to the everyday working.

To achieve the book’s composition, Silestone Institute counted with experts as Jordi Montañés (architect) and Yolanda Hall (dietitian-nutritionist), commercial and restoration specialists in collaboration with leading celebrity chefs as Carles Abellán (Bravo24), Andoni Aduriz (Mugaritz) Jose Andres, Alex Atala (DOM), Dan Barber (Blue Hill), Massimo Botura (Osteria Francescana), Ferran Jubany (Can Jubany), Dani García (Calima), Sergi of Meià (Monvínic), Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca), Carme Ruscalleda (Sant Pau) and Javier and Sergio Torres (Two Heavens). They have also participated specialized training centers as Basque Culinary Center and Alicia Foundation.

Contents of the book

The research and analysis conducted were taken into account the needs of chefs on ergonomics, sustainability and energy efficiency. It involved more pointersnames of gastronomy in the preparation of the book as this is the perfect opportunity to extrapolate their concerns and ideas, which have guided the conceptualization of its facilities, and bring them to a wider audience.

One aspect is the publication that addresses the importance of planning in the development of any implementation of a new restaurant, through previous studies and the drafting adjusted to each case (civil works, installations and equipment) to provide of comparable budgets together the various installation companies and, thus, get the best general, if not always match the lowest bid with the cheapest

The criteria offered in the book are based on the concept of the adequacy of the system to the requirements of each restaurant. Of course, it is obvious compliance with all applicable laws, but not the only goal: the facilities must meet current needs and at the same time be flexible enough to accommodate future.

With the help of new technologies, we must address the concepts of food, health, and environmental sustainability, addressing sustainability not as an element of marketing but as a concept of global efficiency.

If you are interested in purchasing the publication “90 cm Above Floor Level. Restaurant Architecture: High Performance Sustainable Facilites”  do not hesitate to contact us.