Bistro Soho in Aupark shopping centre in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava opened earlier this year. The shopping centre is home to more than 200 shops and more than 30 restaurants, which means they need to stand out to be successful. This is where architects can help.

There was another restaurant in the same place before Soho, but the new owners of the place wanted to give the new bistro a new brand and look.

“They wanted a fresh modern look, with the use of genuine and true materials. The wood is real wood and the metals are also real metal sheets. There was no need to conceal the structures since the new owners wanted to keep them visible,” explains architect Andrej Olah.

Picture: Juraj Chlpík

The bistro can seat around 70 diners and was designed by two Slovakian architectural offices, GUTGUT and GRAU, based in Bratislava.

”The idea is to shock and inspire through the wall surface and modernity. Soho is not a fast-food restaurant, but nor is it fine dining, where people linger for hours. A bit of fatigue rather than perfection was more in keeping with the place,” explains Filip Marčák, one of the architects from GRAU.

“Restaurants in shopping centres are often much alike and the idea here was to create somewhere that people would remember. We turned this restaurant into one that was devoid of the typical shopping centre restaurant ambience and which had a more tranquil atmosphere,” says Andrej Olah.

Perforated aluminium profiles have been used inside the bistro in the wall opposite the kitchen. The wall is different to the other interior walls and was inspired by an American food truck.

Andrej Olah thinks that the advantage of using metals is that they are firm, sturdy and durable material. Because they have different structures, different metals give different end results.

“We’ve heard positive comments about Soho from our colleagues. I’m sure the owners too are pleased with the final result since this is the most profitable and most popular place of all their four SOHO restaurants. We, too, think it’s the best.”

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