Diners are becoming increasingly interested with the provenance of the ingredients in the dishes they eat, and if they were to ask the chefs at 48 Urban Garden in Athens, Greece, they’d only have to point a few yards to highlight some of their own produce still growing in the restaurant’s planters and garden beds. AK-A architects landscaped an organic 190 sqm space at the rear of the restaurant and included areas to cultivate vegetables, fruit and herbs, which cuts down on transport costs, guarantees freshness and provides an aromatic and lush environment in which to relax, eat and drink on picnic tables, stools and benches.
The restaurant is on the ground floor of the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, and offers an indoor dining area slightly bigger than that of outside. The interior features a complimentary use of natural materials. But this is an urban garden after all; steel and glass are also used indoors, notably in the shiny Airstream trailer kitchen parked up inside and the double height doors that open wide to let the garden atmosphere flood in. Wooden slats on chairs, benches, tables and wall coverings lend continuity and a clever use of whitewashed angled bricks creates an interesting feature wall.
Photography, Nikos Alexopoulos
