This Lucerne dining room was an AI experiment

The serious technical expertise behind Pietro Catalano’s CAAA, set amid the alpine lakes of central Switzerland, seems to belie his natural, sustainability-focused ethos. The self-taught chef’s second restaurant features mountain lamb and fermented crops, local cheeses and foraged truffles, and yet its design was framed by AI and 3D printing.

Catalano commissioned Barcelona-based architect Carmelo Zappulla of External Reference to design the avant-garde space in Lucerne, and Zappulla responded by offering input to Midjourney. The process saved hours of sketching, modeling, trial and error, problem-solving and experimentation. Requests for “snow-covered roofs” and “mountain landscapes” led to a visual concept that emulated the feeling of dining at dizzying heights. Zappulla used sophisticated lighting and elegant ash furniture with root-like legs to complement a framework that looks handmade but was assembled from 3D-printed components with the help of industrial printing studio Lamáquina.

The undulating ceiling appears to grow from trunk-like columns rooted in a marble floor as shiny as glacial ice. They conceal a high-performance stainless steel and glass kitchen where the chef does fermentation and preparation. Catalano calls his menu “a journey of surprises” and has made sure the entire experience follows his example.

Read more: European style and Swiss comfort enhance this stay in the mountains

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