“- Where can you eat a good roast chicken in Leiria?
– At D. Duarte.”
D. Duarte, a barbecue restaurant known for its roasted chicken, in the center region of Portugal. When we were called to carry out the remodeling project for this space, it was obvious that only those who knew it knew that it was a barbecue restaurant. Anyone passing by on the Barosa road could easily mistake this restaurant with any other one, as it had no identity of it’s own. It was urgent to bring the concept and rich history of this place up to date and into the eyes of others. A space that since 1984 (ironically coinciding with our year of birth) has brought us the tradition and the art of roasting chicken. How to explore this concept? How could we bring cackling noises to their windows, so that it could stand apart from others and noticed by those who pass by?
It was through urban art that the concept emerged. Art that we can usually find on a larger scale in the outdoors. We wanted to implement these techniques and put them inside the restaurant. We wanted to tell the history and the heritage of this place.We opened the door to this space remembering that history had been made there since 1984. We allowed ourselves to be playful. We started with the incubator, with yellow glass to remind where it all begins. The lighting continues to fuel this idea by simulating the eggs. We joined techniques with other artists for the walls. We invited Romero to transpose the project we had created from paper onto the wall. We combined two techniques: free painting and serigraphy. Bring Art to the table. Going for barbecue and being surrounded by Art that is inspiring. When was the last time you went to a museum? And why does Art have to be kept in an enclosed space? The idea was to break this rigidity and allow anyone who wants to enjoy a meal here to feel that this is where the Art of making a good roast chicken can be tasted. We didn’t stop at that. We created a hallway of time. In there we put a timeline, where we made the space’s history known, even before 1984, when this restaurant emerged. A reminder that everything has a beginning and it is through these beginnings that we can inspire so many other people. We continue the visit through this space and arrive at the sanitary facilities. Here we freed our inner children. We went back to kindergarten and we all sang together the classics that were taught to us when we were children. Who remembers the famous “Doidas, doidas, doidas andam as galinhas (Crazy, crazy, crazy are the chickens)”? It was in this moment that we allowed ourselves to sing, even if only in our heads, all the childhood classics. In this project, the objective was to bring personality to something that already had everything, and just needed to show it to everyone else.
Fátima Gonçalves
