Tori Tori Altavista explores the relationship between compression and continuity, taking us from a ground floor, similar to accessing a cave, to an upper floor completely open to observe the treetops.
Michel Rojkind (Principal)
Salvador Cortéz (Project Manager)
Andrea León (Office Manager)
Fernanda Casar
Lorena García Cordero
Jorge González
Pablo Herrera
Julieta Inclán
Cynthia Ponce
Victor Velazquez
Beatriz Zavala
Sandra Carvajal
Dinorah Martínez Schulte (Marketing)
Design
Esrawe Studio: Héctor Esrawe, Jan Müller, Rodrigo López and Israel Dorantes
Builder
Constructora ZD+A: Yuri Zagorin
Renderings
Esrawe Studio
Photography
Jaime Navarro
As a marketing strategy, each Tori Tori restaurant has a unique expression. After participating in the design of Tori Tori Temistocles, Héctor Esrawe and Michel Rojkind were once again invited to collaborate in the development of the project for the new branch restaurant on the south of Mexico City.
The main influences for this project are based on the expression of brutalist architecture, as well as historic architecture of caves and mountains.
Located inside a commercial plaza in the San Angel neighborhood, the space consists of two levels: the first being a narrow interior that connects with the second level and the green areas of its terrace. The sensation when entering the space through a stairway is determined by a meticulous game of height variations in the marble ceiling. This provokes a sense of compression and continuity, similar to accessing a cave.
The marble ceiling descends until it almost reaches the floor in order to receive the spiral staircase that connects the ground floor with the terrace. On the right side, there is a sushi bar that allows the user to see the chef’s hands while preparing the sushi through the reflective qualities of the high polished brass ceiling. On the other side, lies a continuous seat with an art piece of artist Marco Rountree located on the wall.
The upper floor is surrounded by green areas, creating the feeling of a completely open and extroverted space, enabling the user to observe the treetops of neighboring houses, a characteristic trait of the area. The memory of the previous experience is revealed through the changes of the ground level that is covered with the same material of the preceding space.