Restaurant Sale e Tabacchi

Berlin, Germany

Photo © Wilmar König

Restaurants, Bars, Clubs

Architects: Max Dudler

Location: Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 23, 10969 Berlin, Germany
Year: 1996
Client: Osteria Gastronomie GmbH
Building period: 1995–1996

Located in Berlin’s newspaper district, the restaurant Sale e Tabacchi near Checkpoint Charlie is housed in a former print shop, in a turn-of-the-century building. With just a few carefully selected fittings, the high, elongated ground floor functions as a public space in the city: a high room, unsentimental, sober, with large glass window frontage to the street. To the right of the entrance, a red wall extends the entire length of the restaurant. The room’s depth is visually emphasised by a long row of circular wall lamps. The opposite wall is black and is structured by wooden shelves and counters. Spatially the guest area is divided into three functional parts: the café with the “Sale e Tabacchi” and “Le Piantagioni del Caffè” shelving at the entrance, the bar in the middle and, at the rear and separated by a glass wall, the restaurant, which extends into the courtyard during the summer months.