Land+Living: Chipotle

Architecture — May 26, 2004 Posted by Anthony

Simple design for simple - and tasty - food.

One of the things we've admired when grabbing lunch at Chipotle is the simple interiors they have in their restaurants. Materials such as concrete, wood, stainless steel, exposed conduit, corrugated aluminum, and old-school pull-chain porcelin light fixtures. Perhaps they've taken the typical "let's make this look like an artist's loft" approach to their design (on their behalf, what project these days doesn't use at least some of those materials?) but for a fast food restaurant, we like what they're doing. Rip out the dining tables and chairs, throw in some furniture, and hell, I'd live there. Also, we didn't know this but according to their website, each Chipotle interior and exterior is unique.

"The design of Chipotle mirrors the idea behind our food: simple ingredients put together in creative, new ways, elevating them to a higher level. Each Chipotle uses the same basic materials - wood, concrete, raw steel and metals - but no two look the same."

Not bad considering they're owned by McDonalds.

Link: Chipotle

UPDATE
Artist: Mayatek (chairs & artwork by Bruce Gueswel) [Thanks, Craig!]

6 comments

Comments (6)

Pete — May 26, 2005
Where do they get their custom stuff?

I'd like to know where I can get many of the design elements that they have custom created, such as seats, benches, etc.. Pete. koldshower@cox.net

Craig — June 11, 2005
Chipotle's chairs

The official site of the designs of Bruce Gueswel for Chipotle: www.mayatekinc.com/furniture.html

Anela — February 15, 2006
Outdoor furniture

Where can you get the lightweight metal chairs used for the patio/outdoor seating areas?

Steve Sauer — February 24, 2006
Chipotle's Original Chair

The original chair for Chipotle was the forM chair, designed by Steve Sauer (The picture showing chairs with bright zinc finish and a pyramid apex under the seatpan are forM chairs).

Anonymous — April 28, 2008

chipotle is not owned by mcdonalds and never was we were financially supported by them in the beginning but have been on our own for years now learn your facts suck it

Hugh — April 28, 2008
Uh...

"In the past, McDonald's Corporation owned a majority interest in Chipotle. McDonald's has since sold their entire stake in Chipotle; full divestment was completed in October of 2006." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill Btw, in case you didn't notice, this post was authored in 2004.