On the corner of Guatemala and Gurruchaga Streets in Buenos Aires, chefs in white jackets lift Neapolitan pizza pies with heavy peels into a flaming hot oven as fashionable patrons observe the starry night sky through textural metal mesh high above their heads. The design of Orno Palermo by adamo-faiden and Chamber Projects offers an elevated dining experience in Palermo, a historic neighborhood in the Argentine capital. There, the local design offices inserted a new 2-story tapering glass volume behind the load-bearing facade of a quirky 19th-century building.

The new location marks Orno’s third outpost in Buenos Aires. (The other two are farther north in Villa Urquiza and Belgrano.) From the exterior, the restaurant is shaped like a frustum—a pyramid with its apex chopped off—and the oven occupies a central location underneath it. Should the space ever be used for religious purposes, the oven is where the priest, imam, rabbi, or pujari would stand; the wooden chairs and tables, the pews. An aluminum chimney connects both floors and punctures the frustum, a compelling architectural feature that makes the overall ensemble recall Le Corbusier’s chapel in Firminy, albeit conceptually. A bespoke stair connects the first and second floors. Wood furniture throughout is complemented by white tiles, stainless-steel appliances, and exposed concrete.

Orno Palermo was built where Esquina del Sol previously stood, a bar that once hosted political meetings and rock shows after Argentina’s dictatorship collapsed in 1983. Esquina del Sol became known to many as a symbol of democracy’s resurgence in Buenos Aires. The new gastronomic space at 2100 Gurruchaga Street sits behind the bar’s old facade, a maneuver that nevertheless preserves the memory of the beloved neighborhood landmark.