TRATTORIA DA CARMELO

The brief was to build a world. Specifically, the world of a 1960s Italian film club, somewhere between a Milanese watering hole and the opening credits of a Fellini picture.

You arrive in the foyer, walls chocker-block with posters and Italian movie paraphernalia, the kind of place where the wine flows and nobody checks the time. From there, a passageway lined floor-to-ceiling with wine bottles draws you deeper in. The tunnel of love, as it became known on site. And then the restaurant opens up into two completely different experiences. Along one side, the energy of an open kitchen. At the back, a dramatic vaulted space that feels like a discovery, kitsch and cinematic all at once.

This was the project that tested everything. Asbestos on site. Budget cuts mid-build. A delivery programme that left no room for error. Leading a team of three from initial feasibility drawings through to build supervision, every problem had to be solved creatively and quickly. It was the hardest project to deliver, which is exactly why it remains the most satisfying.