Project: Alfredo Arribas

The Cercle Artístic is an entity founded three centuries ago in Barcelona with the main objective of promoting and supporting all kinds of artistic and cultural endeavours. Inside El Cercle Artístic is the restaurant El Cercle. Both the institution and the restaurant are located within an emblematic 17th-century palace in the heart of Barcelona.

The restaurant itself has several spaces, including a spectacular terrace on the street, a Japanese-styled area, and two interior lounges inside the palace: one in the palace library, and one in a special hall containing a statue in each corner that represent the four seasons of the year. The décor of each space has always respected the original architecture of the palace.

In renovating the space, the architectural studio Alfredo Arribas stripped the walls of the restaurant down to their original interiors, out of the respect for the space as it originally was. He adapted chairs, tables, sofas and lighting to preserve its purest essence, with the aim of contrasting modernity and the classic architectural style of the palace.

The problem of lighting this space, with its 5-meter ceilings, was solved with a framework of cables supporting a series of Marset Pleat Box pendants, from Xavier Mañosa and Mashallah. In keeping with the theme of blending the classic and the modern, these beautiful lamps bring a warm atmosphere to the palace’s venerable interiors.