Efeeme arquitectos has suspended 1954 broomsticks from the ceiling of a traditional patisserie in Villa María, Córdoba, Argentina. Named Picca, the building serves as a shop of homemade pasta and presents a different atmosphere for guests who visit it. 

Picca is a traditional pasta factory located, since its inception in 1954, in a busy street in downtown Villa Maria, Córdoba. Today, serving as a family business, handled by its third generation, intended to build a new brand identity with the idea of, ultimately, widening its customer base and build a strong relationship with the local HoReCa referents.

Under the premise of creating a space that embodies closeness and quality, the architects draw inspiration from an everyday household item, the broomstick, in order to create the strong identity so distinctive of the design.

To commemorate the year of the foundation of Picca, 1954 broomsticks were used in the ceiling patter design, distributed in a 10x10cm metallic grid drawing a double dome from it lengths.

On the walls the broomstick are used to make the most of their possibilities, changing wefts and colors in different planes and functions: shelf support, displays or simply cladding.

To exalt the protagonism of wood, the ceiling and walls have been painted in black, creating a neutral canvas for the intervention while giving, at the same time, a sensation of spatial depth.

For the functional distribution, a single piece of pine wood central furniture piece, longitudinally arranged was built to fuse counter, box and fresh products exhibition.

For outdoor intervention, the main objective was to capture the attention of the potential customer who should feel the presence of the storefront in an area of high pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

"To do this, we evidence the filar aesthetics of the interior in the façade line, creating with the same graphic pattern a visual game between the interior and exterior texture the adjoining facade was made with 3x3cm structural spout performing a double function: cladding and posters. The pipes are rotated sequentially to 1º to generate the effect of movement granted by the contrast of lights and shadows," said the architects. 

Picca combines a traditional atmosphere with contemporary minimalist aesthetic resulting in a warm monochromatic environment that aims to create a unique and memorable shopping experience that conveys to customers the quality of the product.

Ground floor plan

Axonometric drawing

Section-1

Section-2

The shell of the ceiling structure 

All images © Gonzalo Viramonte

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