Return to the origins

By Editorial Staff - 15 April 2024

The dialogue between the roughness of concrete and the warmth of wood, with its simple but powerful materiality, defines the spaces of the restaurant located within the Cantabrian Maritime Museum in Santander, northern Spain. Between aquariums and exhibitions, the museum offers a journey of discovery of the Cantabrian sea, with sections dedicated to marine biodiversity, as well as the history and traditions of the nautical world. The facility, which overlooks the sea, was recently expanded with the addition of a restaurant, located on top of the building and featuring a spacious outdoor area.

Ristorante del Museo Marittimo del Cantabrico | © David Zarzoso, courtesy Zooco

The Cantabrian Maritime Museum was built at the end of the 1970s as part of a complex that included the nearby Oceanographic Center, designed by Vicente Roig Forner and Ángel Hernández Morales. The original design called for two buildings with a square plan, separated by a space that defined the main entrance. The museum building was distributed across three levels, organized around a central courtyard, and topped by a roof consisting of reinforced concrete paraboloids, which also served to shade the terrace on the last floor. In the early 2000s, renovation and extension work made significant changes to the building. This work involved the western façade, where the area was substantially increased, and the roof, where a metal and glass truncated-pyramidal structure was inserted, covering the terrace and concealing the historical concrete vaults.

Ristorante del Museo Marittimo del Cantabrico | © David Zarzoso, courtesy Zooco I paraboloidi storici in calcestruzzo sono stati riscoperti nella loro autenticità materica e accostati a quattro nuove porzioni triangolari di controsoffitto in legno, che permettono di ricomporre una pianta quadrata.

The design of the restaurant, curated by the Madrid-based studio Zooco, aims to return to the original concept conceived by Forner and Morales, rediscovering the essence of the building with its brutalist soul. At the same time, it resolves the functional problems relating to the roof and the façade. From an operational point of view, three fundamental interventions were carried out on the last floor: the realization of a new roof, ensuring waterproofness and thermal insulation; a new façade was established – continuous, vertical, and no longer sloping – which allowed for the creation of a perimeter terrace, in addition to the facilitation of cleaning and maintenance operations; and lastly, the original paraboloids were uncovered inside, eliminating any type of cladding to reveal the concrete surfaces in their authenticity.

The concrete ceiling has become the protagonist of the restaurant: left exposed, naked and raw, with no attempt to hide its defects, including the marks left by the formworks and reinforcement spacers, and the traces of paint protecting against oxidation. The square shape of the room is a result of the addition of four triangular elements in the ceiling, which regularize and complement the concrete paraboloids. These additional portions are covered by an oak slat ceiling. This material was also used for the custom-made furnishings, which juxtapose the concrete-effect ceramic slabs of the floor and the natural-finish aluminum of the curtain wall. Custom-made lamps and furniture are characterized by an essential style, which takes inspiration from objects used daily by sailors and fishermen. The large windows allow natural light to enter, giving airiness to the environment, and look out towards the landscape of the Santander Bay, dematerializing the boundary between indoors and outdoors.

Cantabrian Maritime Museum Restaurant | © David Zarzoso, courtesy of Zooco

Cantabrian Maritime Museum Restaurant | © David Zarzoso, courtesy of Zooco | The dining room of the Cantabrian Maritime Museum restaurant features a neutral color palette with concrete-effect ceramic slabs on the floor and light wood furnishings, accented by touches of blue.

Cantabrian Maritime Museum Restaurant | © David Zarzoso, courtesy of Zooco | The dining room extends onto a large terrace, set up with minimal olive-green metal furniture and bordered by a glass parapet that provides an unobstructed view of the surrounding panorama.

Cantabrian Maritime Museum Restaurant | © David Zarzoso, courtesy of Zooco | The historic concrete paraboloids have been rediscovered in their material authenticity and are juxtaposed by four new triangular portions of wooden ceiling, which recompose a square plan.

Location: Santander, Spain
Client: Museo Marítimo del Cantábrico
Completion: 2023
Gross Floor Area: 920 m²
Architect and Interior Designer: Zooco
Main Contractor: Rotedama Constructora

Photography: David Zarzoso, courtesy of Zooco

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