Excerpt: Keep Banana Ice Cream Shop is a café designed by the architectural firm Martino Hutz Architecture. The existing arched door served as an inspiration to use the forced perspective following the principle of Palazzo Spada by Architect Francesco Borromini, built-in 1635. The forced perspective creates an optical illusion and plays with the customer’s perception. The cone-shaped vault extends from the existing arched entrance.
Project Description
[Text as submitted by Architect] The client’s vision was a vegan ice cream shop using only bananas, which are too old for sale but perfect for ice cream. The shop is located in the side wing of Sendlinger Tor and a central pedestrian area. However, due to its small shop front, pedestrians needed to be attracted, and the shop needed to draw attention. The existing entrance door was replaced with a tree wing door to open fully and to melt the interior with the exterior.


The existing arched door served as an inspiration to use the forced perspective following the principle of Palazzo Spada by Architect Francesco Borromini, built-in 1635. The forced perspective creates an optical illusion and plays with the customer’s perception. The cone-shaped vault extends from the existing arched entrance. The other two arches counter and frame the room like one big brush stroke.


The broom finish texture emphasizes the vaults and creates directionality to become the main unifying design element. The furniture has a clean, longitudinal layout that divides the space into a customer- and serving area. All horizontal surfaces are made out of oak wood. The Counter is movable for the possibility of direct street vending.

