RCR is based in Olot, a small city in northeast Catalonia. It is here that, years ago, their working relationship with Les Cols – a restaurant renowned throughout the region – began. In the first phase, an old farmstead was converted into a modern dining establishment; later pavilions – that are at once minimal and sensual – offering overnight accommodations were added. The notion of a bucolic picnic served as inspiration for this most recent extension: irregularly spaced steel tubing spans a hollow on the east of the site and is the ordering device for the new “tent”. The translucent roof membranes and transparent partitions serve more as protection from the elements than as spatial definition. As guests approach the hollow and get a glimpse through the entire length of the restaurant, they spot the slope on the other end. Perpendicular to that vista, running parallel to the structural tubing, the suspended PVC-membrane partitions zone the space and define the narrow atria that extend into the dining space and are inhabited by trees. In the years to come, the picnics will take place beneath the trees’ canopy. Even the bespoke acrylic-glass furniture conforms to the architects’ quest for dematerialised space. In contrast, the earthbound “vessel” – the floor and walls – is characterised by basalt collected nearby. Cobblestones in a mortar bed serve as paving and cloak the steep west berm, while larger formats are strewn in the atria and upon the east slope.