Shelves, books, the smell of paper and the little puffs of dust as the pages are turned.

Dust, fragments, ruins but then a return in another form: this time not books but the smell of coffee, not stillness but frenzied activity, not calm but cups on the counter and snatched lunch breaks in an ever accelerating lifestyle.

Foodie’s via Turati is a great fit for one of the busiest parts of Milan where life gets going early in the morning and doesn’t stop till after dark.

The renovation process is based around the construction of a mezzanine, the whole object of which is to maximise the use of the space and its height. The shop is divided into three levels, two for serving and selling products.

The original materials of the place, particularly the bricks, were “discovered” and made a feature, showing the simplicity of the place in all its forms. In architectural terms, however, it shows that sometimes the material itself, pure and with no covering, is the richness of the architecture.