Berlin, Germany
Designed by architects Sam Chermayeff Office and Brandlhuber+, Fresko is unapologetic in its divergence from the standard food store typology for the design of Fresko—a new delicatessen in Berlin.
Austere is an understatement: gone are the concealed counters, the bulging shelves.
As the existential name suggests it is about fresh food; cheese, ready-to-eat meals, and so on.
For this, the designers needed a fridge so they made the whole interior a fridge.
The concrete background suggests that the fridge is also itself outside.
In their place, transparency comes to the fore, courtesy of the freestanding walk-in fridge that takes up the majority of the compact room.
Custom produced by Ertl und Zull, the box-within-a-box takes its inspiration from its thermal antipode: a see-through cubic sauna developed in 2014 by Chermayeff and Brandlhuber on what used to be their shared rooftop just a few doors down.
Fresko’s material palette offsets the gleaming aura of a double-glazed fridge – angular, precise, smooth – with a textured background of sprayed concrete walls.
The deli’s design is in keeping with the starkness and architectural vernacular of Brunnenstraße: a steely, loud thoroughfare spliced by double tram tracks.
The deli foregrounds fresh and freshly preserved produce. Arranged on its fridge’s generous shelves with the reverence of prized artworks are hand-selected organic and slow food specialties from all over Italy: organic Burrata from Puglia, Mortadella from Bologna, jars of plump sun-ripened olives, and glossy bottles of Prosecco are joined by house-made lunch staples ready to elevate a break taken on the slopes of the nearby Weinbergspark.
Project: Fresko
Designers: Sam Chermayeff Office and Brandlhuber+
Client: Fresko
Photographer: Oliver Helbig