Following recent openings in Madrid and Barcelona, the architecture and interior design studio El Departamento launches the latest optical boutique for PJ. Lobster in the Eixample district of Barcelona. In an ancient noble building with eclectic Catalan style from the early 20th century, the space harmonizes the high-tech nature of the brand with a strong rationalist character, blending minimalism with substantial materiality. It is a dual space that embodies the maturity point El Departamento has reached.
Monumental intentions
In the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample, the iconic upscale area of the city, El Departamento unveils its latest retail treasure. The ground floor, historically hosting a well-known local fruit store, features a distinctive stone façade with four large arches connecting the two sides of the establishment. This monumental space, with a square morphology and a free height of over 5 meters, is structured around a central pillar dividing the area into four quadrants, one of them with a mezzanine.
On the other hand, the four grand arches not only serve as a monumental window connecting the interior and exterior in both directions but also act as a key focal point of the project. They display, in a lattice-like manner, the custom-designed stainless-steel shelves by the studio. These are selfsupporting shelves that delicately resolve the necessary mechanics to be illuminated and stand upright. Moreover, El Departamento intentionally avoids the entrance from the corner of the space, opting for the main access through the arch attached to the party wall, emphasizing the majesty of the building’s entrance.
Noble hues
The walls of the space have been coated with a historical lime mortar in a bluish-gray shade. An architectural feature that alludes to the collective imaginary association with Barcelona’s high society and its “blue blood,” as traditionally, this sector has historically occupied this part of the city. Tubular elements of stainless-steel integrate as monolithic blocks for furniture, mirrors, shelves and stairs, maintaining visual harmony and coherence. The nobility of the space extends to the silver travertine floor, where its grayish tone dialogues with the vertical surfaces, ceiling and steel furniture.
Capturing elegance
El Departamento’s attention to detail is evident in every corner of the space through custom-designed furniture. The Munt 330 stools appear as millimetric pieces capturing the elegance of their simplicity. Meanwhile, the Blong side table, also present in the Born and Madrid optical boutiques, takes center stage in the space.
Fact file:
Name of the project: Muntaner 330 PJ.Lobster
Location: Barcelona
Area: 80 sq m
Type: Retail Interior Design
Design firm: El Departamento Â
Lead designers: Alberto Eltini & Marina MartÃn
About the design firm:
El Departamento is an experimental and daring studio, founded by Alberto Eltini and Marina MartÃn in early 2017 with the significant challenge of reevaluating the architecture and interior spaces within the historical context we live in. The studio’s ongoing research in its projects converges contemporary elements with experimentation. El Departamento aims to build a bridge between strict and rational architecture through free thinking and anti-establishment aesthetics, with the goal of challenging established norms and proposing a new vision. Each project represents an internal revolution that questions everything done so far, under the conscious premise that one cannot reinvent the wheel every day, but it’s worth trying.
