CASA MORITZ

Barcelona, 2021

Client: Casa Moritz.

Location: Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

Author: External Reference, Carmelo Zappulla, and Chu Uroz. 

Team: Francesco Sacconi, Silvia Signorello.

Project Management: External Reference.

Collaborators: Oxido Studio, Barcelona Glass Studio, Edgar Dominguez.  

Photography: Adrià Goula.

Casa Moritz comes as the second collaboration of External Reference with the beer brand and the third with chef Jordi Vilà. Both share the projects of the award-winning restaurant Alkimia, the M-Store of the Fàbrica Moritz, the kitchen – shop Va de Cuina, and the recently opened Casa Moritz.
This project continues with External Reference’s vision of reinforcing the Moritz brand through a design linked to the beer culture with the use of materials such as tin and metal, and the incorporation of blackboard and tanks as objects and symbols. from the brewery. External Reference, who wanted to link this new space to the M-Store in the Fàbrica Moritz as if it were a manifesto: the beer tanks become key elements, leaving them visible to the customer, and they become shelves and also artistic blown glass lamps that recall the ochre color of beer.
Experimentation in architecture and interior design, with the use of innovative technologies and materials, is one of the fundamental characteristics of External Reference’s work philosophy. For Casa Moritz, the studio’s commitment to reducing waste and promoting the circular economy materializes in the prototype of an entirely recycled table, created from the melting of 8,000 discarded Moritz beer cans. “We are working to optimize the process, improve the transformation of the containers, and achieve the same result with 2,000 cans. With Moritz, we have always innovated in interior and furniture design since we started collaborating, and this new challenge will allow us to go a step further in promoting the reuse of materials” explains Zappulla.
Casa Moritz, divided into two levels, welcomes the client with golden ears of wheat that make a reading of the façade with an artistic installation. The ground floor is dominated by a large bar made of tin that receives the beer through a display of tubes that transport it from the tanks located in the attic to the taps. Another differential element of the space is a large circular magnifying glass that hangs from the ceiling halfway up the first floor. Projecting images of beer, of the bubble effervescence during the production process, allows you to “see” what happens inside the tanks, to further immerse yourself in the brewing world of Moritz. On the same floor, an area dedicated to merchandising shares space with customized chairs with brand messages that challenge customers to learn more about the beer and its qualities. On the walls the intervention is minimal. Brick and some portions of Catalan vaults are discovered, which are left exposed, claiming the construction materials. On the upper floor, the beer tanks connected to the handles of the lower bar share space, with a tasting area.