Paulina Escanes Restaurant, Condado

Paulina Escanes, a renowned local chef, sought a unique interior design for her new restaurant in the ground-level arcade of a multi-level parking garage in San Juan. The project required seating for 50 guests, a spacious bar, a functional kitchen, and bathroom and storage areas—all within a compact and fragmented 1,400-square-foot space and a limited budget.

The design embodies the chef’s commitment to quality, freshness, and clarity, creating an elegant environment. To enhance efficiency, the layout is arranged into three distinct areas. The bar and dining space form an open area, ensuring clear sightlines and a welcoming atmosphere. A semi-open kitchen follows, giving diners a view of the culinary process. In contrast, service and storage spaces are subtly positioned along a narrow, secondary strip.

A suspended wooden pergola, constructed from 3” x 6” treated pine boards supported by a steel frame, unifies the interior while concealing ductwork, sprinklers, electrical conduits, and acoustical treatments. The material palette enhances the restaurant’s refined aesthetic, with encaustic cement tiles covering the floors and a striking bluish-gray statuario marble slab defining the bar.