Commissioned to design the latest edition to Otto’s Burger in the historic heart of Cologne, Studio Modijefsky has taken the history of the building as an inspiration for the new interior. Formerly a bakery, the shop was characterized by two distinctive features that influenced the new design: the clear functional division of the space, and the traces of time visible within the tiled interior.

Covering an L-shaped plot, this new burger restaurant is wrapped around a corner building. On one side, the area that was an old bakery shop became the main entrance, positioned on Severinstrasse, an old, busy street that connects the city from north to south; on the other, the area once used as a storage for the bakery, opens on a quiet side street. In the back of the corner building, where the two spaces meet, there is now a kitchen that connects both sides of the restaurant.

New materials are introduced into the space, giving quality and warmth, while the inspiration from the former bakery and Otto’s identity forms furniture pieces and special elements such as light fixtures and signage. Before the renovation, the tile pattern that used to fill the interior visibly showed the passing of time. Old and new tiles, with different sizes and colors laid side by side: a white and blue checkerboard standing next to a white lane of bigger tiles; broken L-shaped blue ones merging into black ones; terrazzo floor scattered within the building. The variety of colors, shapes and patterns inspired the new material palette.

The link with the past is already visible within the façade: blue tiles inspired by the old interior embrace the entrance and visually connect with Otto’s logo. The lettering, built of simple shapes and profiles, connects the outside with the inside, where the space is unified by the same design language.