[ PK Arkitektar ] Fast Food Restaurant - KFC

Architects: PK Arkitektar ehf
Location: Keflavík, Iceland
Client: KFC Iceland
Design team: Pálmar Kristmundsson and Fernando de Mendonça
Consultants: VSB Engineers
Constructed area: 530 sqm
Project year: 2005
Photographs: Rafael Pinho

Fast food restaurants like Kentucky Fried Chicken are usually known for the standardized look. The architecture in these places seems to never take much consideration on the specific location and surroundings. In Keflavík the intention was to make a design that would brake with these aspects.

The building volume is a play with black boxes. The main body is a horizontal box lying on the pitch black pavement and two vertical ones who stretch up and out, catching both the customers in their cars on the ground and the skylight from above into the building. The outside is clad with semi matte black tiles sparingly cut out for vertical ribbons of windows, which underlines the cool and sophisticated appearance. The west end of the building is surprisingly sheer glass, which mirrors the big space and opens the building to the street and sea view.

The inside is kept in raw in-situ cast concrete which invites for some interesting play with sincere light, shadow and surface. The fine detailing and light fixtures designed by the architect are a dialog to the standardized menu billboards and brand furniture as they come in brightly coloured synthetic materials.

from  archdaily