Bar Rito by Sagoma Studio
In a fast-moving city like Milan, Bar Rito is conceived as a space that invites slowing down. Designed by Sagoma Studio, the project interprets the bar not only as a place of service, but as a daily, shared and intimate environment.
Located on Via Maiocchi in the Porta Venezia district, the project unfolds within a compact 50 sqm space, opening onto the street through two large windows. Here, the intervention balances existing conditions and new insertions through an essential, non-hierarchical approach, where every choice contributes to the construction of space.Existing material is not concealed but revealed. The original terrazzo flooring is restored and brought back to light, while contemporary concrete traces remain visible as part of the spatial narrative. Walls are stripped back to expose layered textures and unfinished surfaces, establishing a raw and direct material language.
Architecture adds only what is necessary. The marble counter acts as a compact, material core, while the steel shelving behind it — technical and explicit — organizes the space and defines its operational rhythm. Within this system, we contributed with two stainless steel kitchen mixers positioned in the bar area, integrated as visible working tools and active elements of the composition.
Moving towards a more domestic dimension, the project maintains the same level of coherence. Here, we developed a custom floor-mounted siphon and a series of bespoke connections, designed to remain exposed and reinforce the continuity between technical function and architectural language. Alongside these elements, the new accessories designed by Maddalena Casadei are introduced, reduced to their essential presence and precisely integrated within the space.
Founded in Milan in 2023 by Marco Mannacio Soderini and Benito Zanzico, Sagoma Studio develops a design approach that questions conventions, focusing on the elimination of the superfluous and on an idea of architecture where form follows function and simplicity becomes a form of sophistication. Bar Rito fits within this trajectory: a calibrated intervention where subtraction and precision allow material to emerge, building a balance between design and contingency, between memory and new spatial definition.
