This is Bar do Porto, the project of the architect David Chipperfield in Corrubedo

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The idea is to get lost among some little streets that necessarily end in the sea until you reach a small beach -A Robeira- and, walking a few more steps, to the port of Corrubedo.

There is an unlikely bar: its owner is the last Pritzker Prize winner, a British architect in love with the town of A Coruña, where three decades ago he began to spend the summer with his family.

(London, 1953), recognized a few days ago with one of the most important prizes in world architecture -which has been awarded to him for being a "prolific professional who is radical in his moderation"-, he not only designed and built his house there overlooking the Atlantic and a few other buildings in the town, but he insisted on giving new life to the port bar, closed some 30 years before, "just when we began to come to Corrubedo to spend the summers. In a place where the local bars are so important to the community, we wanted to reopen the bar and give it a new life, giving the people of the town another space to meet",

, daughter of the architect and in charge of the management of Bar do Porto,

tells METRÓPOLI .

The Chipperfields rented the space to a person linked to the past of the business, which was a bar and even, previously, a salting plant [

].

"We have a close relationship with the owner of the building; his parents were the ones who opened and ran the original bar for years."

Although they decided to tackle the project before the

, during the pandemic they had to finish the work -carried out with Sofía Blanco Santos, a local architect and family friend-.

In mid-August 2020, they opened Bar do Porto.

This beautiful place, rehabilitated with the intelligence and care of David Chipperfield, complies one hundred percent with the bar format that can be found in many Galician ports, with an offer of traditional cuisine based on the local pantry.

It's just that this beautiful space

like someone with a certain sensitivity is responsible for the project: no matter how much it

Under the format of the village bar, only the logo and the typography used on the paper napkins reveal that, behind this facade lined with tiles -in the local style-, in red and green tones and a large window, there is a special hand with aesthetic sense.

Galician cuisine at the Chipperfield table

If you are curious about the bar of an internationally recognized architect - author of works such as the Neues Museum in Berlin, the rehabilitation and expansion of the Royal Academy of Arts, Veles e Vents, in La Marina de Valencia, or the Attorney General's Offices, in Mark's Square in Venice-, know that you will not try a menu of avant-garde dishes, but

.

A bar surrounded by tables with a long bench attached to the wall, a terrace and a kitchen in the back -surprisingly- make up Bar do Porto,

where you can start the day with homemade pastries -such as

or the almond cake, which can also be eaten as a snack, toast or orange juice.

For lunch or dinner, the menu -printed and posted on blackboards- is divided into several sections with

:

, such as Padrón peppers, empanada, octopus salpicón or poplar squid

aioli;

, a technique applied to products such as squid from the estuary or octopus;

, a section basically made up of bivalves (such as cockles or razors), with the option of ordering shellfish on request;

and other snacks, such as

fried

in their ink, meatballs with ratatouille or churrasco -available only on Friday and Saturday at noon-.

For dessert, flan, custard with meringue, cheesecake or ice cream

.

To drink, vermouth, beer and Galician wines, including some of the house bottled and labeled by the Dominio do Bibei winery from Orense for Bar do Porto.

Open from Tuesday to Sunday, its winter hours are from

, while in summer it lasts until 1 or 2 in the morning.

Among the thirty recipes that make up the menu, the affordability of the offer is striking: the prices of each dish are between 4.50 and 22 euros.

Thus, you can have breakfast or snack for an average ticket from 4 euros;

lunch and dinner, from about 20-25 euros, without forgetting that it is a good track to have an aperitif.

What Chipperfield was looking for with Bar do Porto

It seems that the Chipperfields had a couple of obsessions: one, to prevent the bar from becoming a place for tourists and vacationers;

two, that the rehabilitation would destroy its essence.

"We didn't want it to be just for tourists, but above all for the town. The mix of customers is what gives the bar its unique and warm character," says Celeste Chipperfield.

and who, in summer, mingle with regular vacationers, tourists and even people interested in architecture who visit the Galician town that none other than Sir David Chipperfield has put on the map.

"You can find the locals who come daily, mingling with people from outside who come, perhaps for architectural interests or people from nearby cities who visit the bar for food," says this young woman, who lives in London, although "since The pandemic spent a long time in Galicia".

And, above all, a project that could almost seem like a mere hobby for the architect and his family is actually equivalent to

or, further refining, a

.

"We want Bar do Porto to highlight and maintain the qualities that we all value in Galicia: hospitality, good local food and direct and simple cuisine. The bar has a special importance in a community as a social meeting place. A local bar does not it is only a commercial activity, but a space for the community", defines David Chipperfield -via email- for METRÓPOLI.

The rehabilitation project guaranteed that vocation to respect and

-in a good way- all the attractions of the business of decades ago.

"

. We were very happy to discover the original stone flooring from when the building was a salting plant - it had been covered over when it was a bar, but we uncovered it and kept the stone Also, we kept the original kitchen tiles, the previous owner's trophies and all the little vintage spirit bottles he had collected," says Celeste Chipperfield.

This approach to preserve the authentic -to polish it- also reached the gastronomic offer.

Did the Chipperfield family reflect on the possibility of offering a modern proposal for Galician cuisine?

"We wanted the bar to be a

[the Chipperfields use this term literally in Spanish]. We didn't want to offer anything elegant [

] in terms of food, but we

, working within the traditional Galician cultures and offering homemade tapas every day for which the local public comes.

We support local suppliers and only use Galician products whenever possible", details Celeste Chipperfield.

The 'chef's table' of Bar do Porto

At the back of this long place, in the kitchen there is a surprise to uncover: the

of Bar do Porto.

Located inside the kitchen and preparation area, the clients who book this special table have lunch or dinner directly from the kitchen.

With the option of accessing through a back door from the bar, it is designed for larger groups seeking a private or more intimate space to celebrate a special occasion.

, recognizes Celeste Chipperfield.

For example, they can call ahead to order seafood, which is also possible for any reservation at the bar.

"The chef is very flexible and interacts with all the customers and locals, making it a very personal experience," she adds.

For the Chipperfields, the team they rely on is key to making Bar do Porto work.

"I manage the bar, together with my parents [his mother is the Argentinian

, a partner of her husband in his studio DC Studio]. I am more involved in the day-to-day life and with the staff, but

. The cook, Alicia, supports us in day-to-day management and we are very grateful to be able to count on her, as well as our faithful waiters, whom we can trust since we are not always in Galicia," he points out. Celeste Chipperfield.

The charm of the apparent 'ugly Galician'

Between uneven buildings, where colors and materials are intermingled in a construction style that many have formalized as 'ugly Galician', David Chipperfield -apparently integrated as one more neighbor in the life of Corrubedo, where he spends many seasons- He knew how to see the charm and even the urban possibilities of a town famous for its dune complex over a kilometer long, between the Arosa and Muros-Noia estuaries.

"

", wrote his son Rafael -Celeste's brother- on Instagram, when he started Bar do Porto in the summer of 2020: "

".

The British architect reserves something else for Galicia, where the RIA Foundation works -"focused on strategic territorial planning to preserve natural and cultural values"-, in which his daughter Celeste is involved and, among whose plans, is the opening at the end of from 2023 of Casa Ria, a building in Santiago de Compostela, within which there will be a space that will function as a bar-café, designed for the public that visits exhibitions or attends events.

When the awarding of the Pritzker Prize was announced on March 7, David Chipperfield posted two photos on Instagram: one, with Galicia as a

, thanking the distinction;

another, with a screenshot from Galician television that he immediately went to record in front of Bar do Porto.

"

. Within minutes of the announcement, TVG sent a team to Bar do Porto. It must be the first time that waiters have been interviewed about the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Neither a whisper from the BBC...", wrote the architect, who has five DC Studio offices, his architecture studio (London, Berlin, Milan, Shanghai and Santiago de Compostela).

Finally, some small curiosities that cross architecture with gastronomy.

One, in 2017, the Pritzker went to RCR Arquitectes, a studio in Olot (Gerona), led by

and

, creators of restaurants such as Les Cols, a two-star space run by

and her family in the town of La Pole;

or Enigma, by

, in Barcelona.

And, two, the gastronomic direction of the Royal Academy of Arts seemed destined for a chef who was fond of architecture and art collecting, like

, a native of Extremadura who has lived in London for almost 25 years, in charge of two dining concepts within the oldest artistic institution in the United Kingdom: José Pizarro at the RA and Poster Bar by José.

And, far from the brilliance of a sophisticated world such as architecture, Chipperfield goes from Sir to countryman among the little streets of Corrubedo, launching -involuntarily or not- a message also in a gastronomic key -on which the Spanish hotel industry and, specifically, the A woman from Madrid could reflect: why not stop emulating traditional bars in papier-mâché premises, to

or randomly raising prices?

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