Le Pizzeria24 is a project in collaboration with KOOP architects.
This road of buildings in the Greyville area of Durban has a lot of history. Colonial style double storey buildings that housed many popular Durban institutions: the beginnings of the ever popular iHeart market, the infamous any day, all night hangout Bean Bag Bohemia and poignantly, it was our first office space about 20 years ago.
The area has gone through a rough patch over the last few years, and had fallen into disrepair. So it is wonderful seeing these buildings being brought back to life has been really special to be involved.
LePizzeria is a 24hr modern, Italian inspired eatery. The idea was for a fun, vibrant space that is always open and ready to serve great food.
The color palette referenced the tri colour of the Italian flag, wrapping in bands from the floor to the ceiling, but in purposefully subdued hues. We had a lot of fun sourcing, making and setting up the memorabilia for the feature walls, which is a mix of old world Italian icons, vintage cinema and popular culture. To keep it local we added in a few South African sports iconography as well.
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