Osten, Buenos Aires – Argentina

The space reflects through the poetics of the temporality of the scaffolding the breaking point in the evolution from art deco to the new aesthetic order, the modernism. The idea was inspired by the exact moment of the economic crash of 29, inspired by the novel The Crack up by Scott Fitzgerald.
Osten is a cocktail bar and restaurant located in the distinguished neighborhood of Puerto Madero, in Buenos Aires. The total 460 sqm are divided in 310 sqm covered and 150 sqm exteriors.

At first glance there is a large corridor built with scaffolding and the name Osten on a sign hung on a perforated metal located at the main entrance that functions as a waiting room, as a result of an effect of provocation to discover the space step by step.

The corridor has 6 different arches that constitute the accesses to the general space. This is mainly due to the fact that these spaces can be isolated in order to divide the areas as private spaces.

The entrance to the bar is located at the end of the corridor, highlighted by a perforated metal with the bar’s identity design. This corridor divides the entire space into two large areas of use and at the back a large bar.
The outdoor area can be accessed from the sidewalk or from a special access from the interior.

The presence of scaffolding as a support for an era that could no longer stand on its own. The essential characteristic of the scaffolding devices is ultimately the temporality of their use, and it is this word “temporality” that defines the end of that era of elegance and waste of money.
These scaffoldings support large sheet metal arches painted in bronze color, but without the brightness or grandiloquence, rather aged.

These arches host all the most representative areas of the bar, such as: the access through a large corridor, the large bar & its back, the staircase and the perimeter sitting. The nodes that hold each intersection of the scaffolding are aged with old bronze paint.

Modernism is represented essentially the inner skin constructed of concrete boards and marble applied over different areas. These mables panels are disposed in between the scaffolding structure, looking for a relationship between the elegant and the provisional.

Modernism also manifests itself in the lighting system where the two worlds are combined, the modern with its acrylic tubes and through the envelope with art deco drawings. In the same way the large luminaires that simulate chandeliers, hanging with acrylic tubes and chains that represent the caireles.

The graphic identity developed from the naming typography was applied in different areas, in the form of stencils on the walls and through perforations in metal sheets that also function as dividers. As a result of the typographic development, graphic pieces with feminine profiles have been developed and applied in the form of artistic paintings holded by the scaffolding system.
The tonality of old bronze, dark green, light green and blue were the result of a sober and elegant composition.