La Raffinerie

Un Studio worked to find an industrial feel for La Raffinerie, while giving the space class, fun, and a welcoming environment that set it apart from the typical brewery feel.

Firm
  • area / size 1,453 sqft
  • Year 2020
  • Location Lyon, France,
  • The challenge of this new “beer bar” is to revisit industrial design without falling into the cliché of the red brick, slate and leather, but rather seeking inspiration from European modernism.

    By reinterpreting the codes of industrial installations associated with a more contemporary vision, this place becomes at the same time daring, playful and welcoming, a retro-futuristic brasserie. Jean Prouvé, Le Corbusier, Friso Kramer… the influences are combined around a central bar taking the shape of the building itself.

    The emphasis on metal reminds us of the large factories in which we find coloured tubes and a lot of visual noise for a graphic result. There is also the use of raw concrete, which is rather cold, in contrast to the more noble materials such as wood, marble or terracotta, which are typical of the French brasserie.

    Dark and chic corrugated sheet metal, luminous but intimate glass bricks, assumed raw neon lights, La Raffinerie oscillates between an exercise in style and strict functionalism for a result that calls for friendliness. A racy, acidic look, from floor to ceiling, without forgetting the visual identity designed in parallel with the architecture right up to the front door handle, which also takes up the shape of the building like a mise en abîme.

    Design: Un Studio
    Photography: Aurelien Aumond