Refugio de Camping by It Met Estudio
This airy, prefab bar was a perfect visual representation for the adventurous Argentinian outdoor and lifestyle brand.
It’s a concept that represents salvation for those of us who have sweated through a humid urban summer —and perhaps an idea ripe for feature placement in a beer commercial. Perched on a rooftop in Buenos Aires’ hip Recoleta cultural district, the Refugio de Camping, a prefab bar built by a trio of architects from It Met Estudio, is ostensibly an 18-by-8.5 foot pop-up party.
“We wanted to create a place that could embrace the [lively] dynamics of a bar in a natural environment, but without loosing touch with the technical details,” says architect Facu Fernandez. “In the end, it's just a metal structure with big wooden boxes and plants growing all around it, a big green lantern on the roof of a building.”
Fernandez, along with his colleagues Nati Lucero and Maxi Ciovich, built Refugio for Camping, a space that reflects its focus on local beer and wine and the outdoor lifestyle. With its small footprint, garden of plants, and transparent exterior, the Refugio project captures that sense of openness, versatility, and abandon. It Met added a dozen custom tables to complete the casual outdoor space.
A series of five big metal rings linked by a four longitudinal beams forms the skeleton of the structure, built in studio and assembles on site. Clad in transparent sinusoidal polycarbonate sheets and filled with furniture crafted from guatambu hardwood panels, it can be easily disassembled, transported, and then assembled again, with the furniture forming a simple interior perimeter and giving the "box" more depth.
“The design and construction process was very enjoyable, but also very intense, a lot of hard work,” says Lucero. “The reward is being able to go a place which was born from out own ideas and enjoy a cold beer among friends, good food, and good music.”
