Jean Nouvel designs a gastronomy and cultural centre for Barcelona’s beer company Moritz

Barcelona (ACN).– Central Barcelona will have a new space devoted to gastronomy and beer designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel. The Catalan beer company Moritz will open a multifunction centre, mixing gastro bars with commercial and cultural spaces. It will also include a microbrewery, a shop, a beer bar, a wine bar, two restaurants, a museum, a gastronomic classroom, a bakery and a newsagent. It will be distributed over three floors totalling 4,500 square metres. The project includes the renovation of buildings occupying the family residence of the owners and founders of Moritz. On Tuesday, the Director General of Moritz Albert Castellón and Jean Nouvel unveiled the centre. It will open its doors to the public on December 12^th. The French architect said his work tried to portray “the shock” between “architectonic heritage, modernity and pleasure”. Nouvel explained that he was “very satisfied” with his task of “renovating such an old building that has been transformed into such a hedonistic space, to enjoy the pleasure of gastronomy fit in to the context of urban archaeology”. The beer company has invested a total of €30 million over the last ten years. Castellón announced that Moritz will have a turnover of €36 million, 15% more than the figures from 2010.

The former Moritz beer brewery on Ronda de San Antoni in downtown Barcelona will open its doors once again, but in a space that has been completely transformed. It will be called ‘Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona’ (‘Moritz Barcelona Factory’). It will occupy the exact same location as the former Moritz brewery that began operations 155 years ago. The brewery was located in a traditional building in the Eixample district, in a construction similar to a Parisian boulevard house. The brewery was in the lowest floor of the structure. Above lived the owners, the Moritz family, who originated from the Alsace region.

In fact, the Alsatian origins of the Moritz family will shape the food on offer in the new space. The restaurant will be a combination of Catalan gastronomy and typical Alsatian dishes, such as ‘flammkuchen’. Despite these two defined cuisines, the kitchen at ‘Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona’ will also offer deep fried fish (in an Andalusian style), Galician seafood, German meats, French ‘cocottes’, oven dishes and those linked to the tradition of drinking beer..  

Beer made on the spot

One of the unique offers available at ‘Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona’ is that all the beer served is made in the microbrewery, which will be in one of the underground floors. It will be able to produce 600,000 litres per year. This means that the beer will not be pasteurised and will have a different taste to the beer available in shops or regular bars and restaurants, as Moritz Director General, Albert Castellón explained. The beer will be served on a 25-metre-long tin bar, open on to the street, and which will also have tables. It will be capable of hosting 250 people and will open from 6 am to 3 am, seven days a week, 365 days per year.

Wine bar

Despite being a beer company with its focus mainly on beer, the space will have a corner devoted to wine. The Moritz ‘Bar à vins’ promises not to disappoint wine lovers. It will have more than 400 different wines, including red, white, rosé, sparkling, and sweet wines. It will have an innovative system to preserve and stock the wine, which will enable serving just one glass from a large variety of the stock, and therefore not being forced to buy the whole bottle. This system ensures a high degree of quality and taste.

A commercial drive

‘Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona’ will also host a store called the ‘M-Store’, which will have Moritz merchandising. One of the most curious items available for purchase will be the bar and restaurant chairs, which are an exclusive design for the new multifunctional space. Moritz expects the space to be popular with young people so they have reached an agreement with telecommunications company Ono to offer free Internet access at 100 MB broadband speed.

An underground brasserie open to the sky

The 4,500 square metre space will also host a restaurant, the ‘Louis Moritz Brasserie’. It will occupy one of the underground floors. However, Jean Nouvel has designed a system of mirrors that reflect the street and the sky, being able to have dinner while looking at the sky or how pedestrians walk outside. Nouvel explained he was “very satisfied” to have worked “renovating such an old building that has been transformed into such a hedonistic space, to enjoy the pleasure of gastronomy fit in to the context of urban archaeology”. The restaurant choice will be large, with affordable prices, explained Albert Castellón.

A €30 million investment

Moritz has spent a total of €30 million on the project. ‘Fàbrica Moritz Barcelona’ will employ 100 staff. Once all the spaces in the centre are open, Albert Castellón expects a return of €6 million per year. In fact, not all the new spaces in the centre will open on December 12^th. The wine bar will open in January, the shop in February and the brasserie in March. In the second semester of 2012, an haute cuisine restaurant will also open. The centre will also host a space for exhibitions or to be rented for corporate events.

€36 million turnover

The beer company’s Director General expects a turnover in 2011 of €36 million. This figure represents a 15% increase on the figures from 2010. 50% of the turnover at Moritz comes from beer sales, while the rest due to other products and brands distributed by the group. Moritz sales are mainly in the domestic market. Only 5% of company sales come from abroad, mainly from Australia, although the company sells its products in 17 countries.