Arzábal

Gastronomy, art and devotion in three acts

Type of Project

Hospitality and Gastronomic Spaces

Client

MIL

Location

Madrid/Spain

Year

2025

Client

Arzábal

Gastronomy, art and devotion in three acts

Stepping into Arzábal is like entering a temple where the product is revered with the same fervor as the players running just beyond the glass. Located next to Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, this restaurant offers a sensory and theatrical experience divided into three levels—as if it were a contemporary liturgy.

The first level welcomes guests from the street into a space bathed in simulated natural light, almost celestial in nature. A large skylight spans the width of the venue, casting a top-down illumination that adjusts in both intensity and color temperature to follow the rhythm of daylight. This carefully controlled entrance of light creates an atmosphere that is open, vibrant, and serene all at once.

From there, we descend to the second level, where the true stage of the action is revealed: the stadium’s pitch and stands, visible through panoramic windows. Here, the spotlight belongs to the players themselves. To avoid competing with the spectacle, the architectural lighting is kept at a low key, with extremely narrow beams—down to 4°—and warm color temperatures of 2700K. This technical, precisely controlled lighting contrasts with the warmer 2200K tones used in the decorative and indirect lighting of the bottle displays and artworks, creating an emotional warmth that frames the space without overwhelming it.

As we descend into the deepest level—the crypt—the atmosphere shifts completely. The lighting dims, recedes, and invites introspection. Here, intimacy becomes tangible around each table. Suspended chandeliers inspired by cathedral lighting and candle-like tabletop luminaires evoke a subtle spirituality, while the walls are softly grazed with perimeter lighting emerging from the wood paneling. Small projectors direct the gaze toward curated artworks, as if within the side chapels of a baroque church. A rail-mounted system allows these pieces to be moved and reinterpreted freely, maintaining a constant tension between gastronomy and museography.

Each table features its own dedicated lighting, equipped with high color rendering luminaires (CRI 98), ensuring every dish reveals its full richness and nuance with absolute precision.

At Arzábal, light does not merely accompany—it constructs the experience. A carefully choreographed mise-en-scène where gastronomy becomes art, and art becomes a kind of secular religion.