Exposed brickwork rests within sleek white tiles and smooth cement surfaces; striped awnings converse with bare infrastructure and garden light garlands, in an eatery equipped with white monobloc plastic chairs and marble-top tables. With Oli’s Italiano, Alan Prekop Studio orchestrates a post-modern, everyday Italian experience in Bratislava, where folk culture meets urban style, authenticity is mixed with playfulness, inside space goes out, and everything is much more than it seems.
Alan Prekop’s first design move was to bare-strip the space from remnants of previous uses, exposing and rendering visible the building’s original structure.
In that way, Oli’s roaring interior life is counterbalanced by a raw, materially mnemonic backdrop, offering a sense of deep authenticity and calmness.
Based on material juxtapositions and conceptual plot twists, the main design strategy is concerned with turning an indoor restaurant into the ideal outdoor setting for gathering, eating, and catching up with family and friends.
Imagined as a busy Italian piazza, Oli’s is filled with the ubiquitous monobloc plastic chair, an emblematic democratic object largely found in Mediterranean narrow streets, balconies, and terraces, where public and private realms naturally overlap. Combined with garden light garlands, lightweight blue-and-white suspended awnings reinforce the outdoor-like atmosphere.
Set in Central Europe yet smelling like the Mediterranean sea, Oli’s Italiano blends informal celebration with fine dining and indoor coziness with open-air comfort, framing the banquet as a collective experience that mediates between tradition and modernity.
Facts & Credits
Project title Oli’s Italiano
Typology Restaurant, Eatery
Location Bratislava, Slovakia
Architecture Alan Prekop Studio
Photography Nora Saparova