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      Tate Modern’s Corner cafe revamped to be less “Herzog & de Meuron-y”

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      Architecture studio Holland Harvey has overhauled the ground-floor cafe at the Tate Modern in London so it doubles as the gallery’s first late-night bar.

      Tucked away in the museum’s northwest corner, the interior of the Corner cafe was originally designed in 2000 when Herzog & de Meuron created a home for the UK’s national collection of modern art inside the disused power station on the Southbank.
      Corner is a new cafe and bar at the Tate ModenSince then, the Tate had made no changes to the space until Holland Harvey was brought on board to refresh the interior at the start of 2022.
      “It was quite a cold space,” the studio’s co-founder Richard Holland told Dezeen. “All very Herzog & de Meuron-y.”
      “They’re amazing at what they do in so many ways,” he continued. “But this was not their best food and beverage space.”

      A grey stone bar forms the centrepiece of the roomHolland Harvey stripped back many of the cafe’s hard, reflective finishes, sanding away the black gloss paint on the floors to reveal the parquet underneath and removing the mirrored glass that Herzog & de Meuron had used to enclose the building’s original riveted columns.
      Fluorescent lights were replaced with more muted spots by London studio There’s Light, while the dropped ceiling above the bar was rounded off and covered in foam insulation to soften the interior – both visually and acoustically.
      Otherwise, many of the cafe’s core elements including the servicing as well as the kitchen and toilets remained largely untouched to prevent excessive waste and maintain the integrity of the building.
      “You don’t really want to mess around with the servicing because 12 feet above your head is a Picasso,” Holland said. “So it was pretty light touch.”
      The cafe backs onto the Tate’s Turbine Hall. Photo by Edward BishopThe biggest intervention came in the form of a newly added riverside entrance, allowing passersby to stroll straight into Corner rather than having to take the long way through the gallery.
      At the other end of the open-plan room, a door leads directly into Tate’s famous Turbine Hall, effectively linking it with the public spaces of the Southbank.
      Stone seating banquettes double as impromptu climbing frames”The Turbine Hall is one of the most successful public spaces in London,” Holland said. “It’s one of the few indoor places you can go, where people happily sit down on the floor in the middle of the day.”
      “And obviously, the Southbank is an amazing public offering as well,” he continued. “So this felt like an opportunity to connect the two, which led a lot of the thinking around the design.”
      With the idea of extending the public realm, many of the newly added pieces are robust and fixed in place, much like street furniture. Among them are the double-sided Vicenza Stone banquettes, which can also serve as impromptu climbing frames for young children.

      UXUS designs “permanently temporary” gift shop for Herzog & de Meuron’s extended Tate Modern

      Holland Harvey created a number of other seating areas throughout Corner to suit different accessibility needs, with a focus on supporting local manufacturers and small businesses while reducing waste wherever possible.
      Corner’s long sharing tables and benches were made by marginalised young people from west London as part of a carpentry apprenticeship programme run by social enterprise Goldfinger, using trees that were felled by local authorities to stop the spread of ash dieback.
      “Every table has the coordinates of where the tree has felled on it, so there’s a provenance to the furniture,” Holland said.
      The chairs were taken from Tate’s own storage and refinishedThe chairs, meanwhile, were salvaged from the gallery’s own storage before being refinished and reupholstered, while the smaller tables were made by Brighton company Spared using waste coffee grounds from Tate’s other cafes.
      These were baked at a low temperature to remove any moisture before being mixed with oyster shells and a water-based gypsum binder.
      Although the resulting pieces aren’t fully circular since they can’t be recycled, Holland hopes they tell a story about the value that can be found in waste.
      Waste coffee grounds from the gallery’s other cafes were turned into table tops”We’re by no means saying that it’s an exemplar project in that sense,” he explained. “We were just trying to find opportunities to tell stories through all the different elements rather than just going to the large corporate suppliers.”
      “And that’s really our wider impact: people realising that there’s a different way to procure a table. Imagine if all of Tate’s furniture moving forward is made by Goldfinger,” he continued.
      The cafe also has high counter seating for remote workingIn the evenings, the space can be transitioned into a bar and events space by switching to warmer, higher-contrast lighting, while a section of the central banquette can be turned into a raised DJ booth by pressing a button that is hidden under the cushions.
      “This place can get quite wild in the evening,” Holland said.
      Timber shelves are used to display productsThe last significant amendment to the Tate Modern building was Herzog & de Meuron’s Switch House extension, which opened to the public in 2016.
      The building contains a gift shop designed by Amsterdam studio UXUS, alongside various galleries and a viewing level on the top floor, which is currently closed to the public after Tate lost a high-profile privacy lawsuit brought by the inhabitants of a neighbouring residential tower.
      The photography is by Jack Hobhouse unless otherwise stated.

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      Sukchulmok adds curved brick forms to rooftop of Parconido Bakery Cafe

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      Curved forms and arched openings feature in this cafe, which Seoul studio Sukchulmok has added to an existing building in South Korea’s Gyeonggi-do province.

      Named Parconido Bakery Cafe, the cafe is made from red bricks and features playful curved shapes and rounded walls designed to create an illusion-like effect.
      Parconido Bakery Cafe was designed by Sukchulmok”The space, created through one rule, was designed to give a sense of expansion and the experience of an optical illusion image,” lead architect Park Hyunhee told Dezeen.
      Arranged across three floors including a rooftop level, the cafe was designed by architecture studio Sukchulmok to resemble European public squares in reference to the client’s time spent in Italy.
      The studio topped the roof with curving brick volumes”The client who spent his youth living in Italy is a clothing businessman, opening the cafe as a business expansion to provide people with a space for peaceful rest,” said Park.

      “These two aspects naturally reminded me of the image of the European square, where people are huddled together talking on a sunny day between red brick buildings and stone pillars.”
      The design drew references from nostalgic memories of ItalyOn the rooftop level and terrace, the outdoor dining spaces are punctuated by clay brick columns with arched connections and walls with U-shaped openings.
      Built around steel frames that extend into curved forms above the brick walls, the curved elements are coated in bricks cut to two-thirds of their original thickness to lighten their weight.
      The walls and floors have curved edgesA long stainless steel table with a curved underside, along with circular stools and planting, is shaded by a removable canopy made from green, orange and white fabrics.
      Curved walls lined with white tiles join with the tiled floor and ceiling to create rooms with rounded forms on the interior levels of the cafe.
      The rooms are covered in small tiles of travertine limestone, selected for its use in the fountains of European squares.

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      Kitchens are built into recesses in the curved walls, while wooden elements, including wall panels and pipes that line a portion of the ceiling, add a feeling of warmth to the interior.
      Throughout the spaces, uniquely designed seating areas and bespoke circular furnishings provide spaces for dining.
      The interior was covered in different textural materialsComprising twelve different designs, the cafe’s set of furniture was designed to exhibit a variety of shapes, textures, and materials, including leftover finishing materials, wood, overlapping pipes, and concrete castings.
      “Although they have slightly different shapes and textures, the pieces of furniture are all in harmony with the space and show good synergy with space as an object,” said Park.
      The cafe’s curved edges all have a radius of 600 millimetresTo maintain a sense of uniformity, the studio based the design of each element, including the walls, columns and furniture, around a circle with a constant radius of 600 millimetres.
      “A radius of 600 millimetres was used as an act of connecting spaces that were not monotonous,” said Park. “It was simply based on the idea that the distance from the height of the door and window to the ceiling finish is 600 millimetres.”
      Furniture was specially designed for the interiorOther South Korean cafes recently featured on Dezeen include a bakery with a curved courtyard designed to act as an “artificial valley” and a Seoul cafe with a vertical farm.
      The photography is by Hong Seokgyu.

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      Prada opens Milanese-informed cafe at Harrods

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      Fashion house Prada has opened the Prada Caffè in luxury department store Harrods, which has an interior that is blanketed in the brand’s signature green hue and mirrors one of Milan’s oldest patisseries.

      Located at the corner of Hans Road in London, the Prada Caffè is accessed via a mint green latticed storefront that complements Harrods’s Edwardian baroque terracotta facade.
      Prada Caffè is located in HarrodsThe interior of the pop-up cafe draws on the interior of Pasticceria Marchesi, a Milanese patisserie that opened in 1824, which has similar pale-green interiors that are paired with green velvet-upholstered soft furnishings.
      At Prada Caffè, the walls, ceilings and furniture – including booth seating, plush armchairs and architectural elements – were hued in a minty green referred to as Prada green, a colour that has become synonymous with the brand.
      It was decorated in Prada’s signature green colourA large marble countertop, decorated with textural, pebbled panelling at its base, is located at the entrance to the cafe and used to display Prada-branded patisseries that are presented like individual pieces of jewellery.

      The floors of the space were clad in black and white-checkered floor tiles in a nod to the floors of the Prada boutique located in Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
      The interior referenced Prada stores and a Milanese patisserieFloral reliefs and mouldings cover the walls and ceilings of the cafe, which the brand explained aims to evoke the look of Prada stores worldwide.
      A mezzanine level, supported by green columns, is decorated with bowed balustrades and used as an elevated seating area overlooking the marble-wrapped patisserie counter.

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      At the rear of the cafe, a secluded room continues the interior scheme. Here, green velvet booth seating surrounds the perimeter of the space beneath decorative floral relief walls.
      Tableware was selected specifically for the cafe and ranges from blue-hued Japanese porcelain, informed by ancient Celadon pottery and decorated with contrasting black lines, to blown-glass crystalware.
      A checkered floor runs through the cafeTo accompany the blown glassware and duck egg blue porcelain, silverware was engraved with Prada branding and features handle ends that are shaped like the brand’s triangular logo.
      The cafe will remain at Harrods until January 2024.
      Furniture was upholstered in velvetDuring Milan Fashion Week, Prada presented its Autumn Winter 2023 collection in the Deposito of the Fondazione Prada, which featured a moving and retractable ceiling.
      Elsewhere in London, Ola Jachymiak Studio brightened a cafe in Notting Hill incorporating terracotta-tile floors and tangerine-hued walls.
      The photography is courtesy of Prada.

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      Eight offbeat bakeries and patisseries that provide playful backdrops for baked goods

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      A steely space-themed patisserie displaying chunks of meteorite and a green monochrome pastry shop with squiggly furniture feature in this lookbook of unusual and unique bakery interior designs.

      Architects and designers across the world have created bakeries and patisseries with striking interiors that provide a playful setting from which to collect baked goods to take home or enjoy while dining in with a tasty treat.
      From a bakery with an open-plan kitchen that showcases the bread-making process to a cheese tart shop with a Lego display counter, here are eight offbeat bakeries and patisseries that have been featured on Dezeen.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring inviting entrance halls, minimalist Tokyo apartments and bathrooms with colourful sanitary ware.
      Photo is by Jonathan LeijonhufvudBlack Star Pastry, China, by Linehouse

      For Australian chain Black Star Pastry’s first Chinese outpost, design studio Linehouse created a space-themed interior filled with stainless-steel shelves displaying meteorites.
      The shelving extends to the top of the walls and curves to form an arched ceiling. On the white-tiled counter, nine levitating cakes are displayed in glass containers.
      Find out more about Black Star Pastry ›
      Photo is by Mikhail LoskutovBreadway, Ukraine, by Lera Brumina and Artem Trigubchak
      Designers Lera Brumina and Artem Trigubchak finished this cafe and bakery in Ukraine with colourful walls and upholstery.
      Originally a dental clinic, the designers transformed the interior by combining pink and rusty hues with blue and grey tones to “emphasise the warm colour of bread”.
      Find out more about Breadway ›
      Photo is by Imagen SubliminalCasa Mela, Spain, by Casa Antillón
      The Casa Mela pastry shop in Madrid is made up of two rooms that Spanish studio Casa Antillón contrasted by completing one in white and the other in green.
      Customers enter the shop via the all-white room, which features an angular stainless steel counter displaying the sweet treats on offer (pictured top).
      In the green room, metal tables and chairs with wriggly edges provide dining furniture.
      Find out more about Casa Mela ›
      Photo is by Carolina LacazMintchi Croissant, Brazil, by Dezembro Arquitetos
      Architecture studio Dezembro Arquitetos was informed by pastry techniques when designing the Montchi Croissant patisserie in São Paolo.
      The flooring, countertop and bench seating were made from perforated terracotta bricks, which were infilled with concrete piped from an icing nozzle.
      Find out more about Mintchi Croissant ›
      Photo is by Kyung RohCafé Teri, South Korea, by Nameless Architecture
      Located at the base of a mountain in Daejeon, South Korea, the Café Teri bakery and cafe is made up of two buildings with exterior walls that curve towards each other to form an “artificial valley”.
      Designed by Nameless Architecture, the curving walls create a dramatic effect in the bakery interior and slope down to form stepping seating.
      Find out more about Café Teri ›
      Photo is by Volker ConradusSofi, Germany, by Mathias Mentze and Alexander Vedel Ottenstein
      Danish architects Mathias Mentze and Alexander Vedel Ottenstein transformed a former brick factory in Berlin into the Sofi craft bakery with warm tones, wood finishes and red vinyl flooring.
      At the centre of the space is an open-plan kitchen that the architects designed as a “production floor” allowing visitors to watch the bread-making process.
      Find out more about Sofi ›
      Photo is by Takumi OtaBake, Japan, by Yusuke Seki
      A counter made of Lego bricks forms the centrepiece of this cheese tart shop in Kyoto, which was created by Tokyo-based designer Yusuke Seki.
      Bamboo latticework lines the walls on either side of the counter and an open kitchen at the rear reveals the process of baking the cheese tarts.
      Find out more about Bake ›
      Photo is by Jerome GallandLiberté, France, by Emmanuelle Simon
      Interior architecture studio Emmanuelle Simon added arched shelving coves and rounded furniture to the Liberté bakery in Paris, aiming to create a unique space that encourages visitors to stay a little longer than usual while on their bakery trip.
      The rounded shapes were complimented with warm sandy colours and Raku tiles – ceramic tiles that were created by the ancient Japanese firing technique – cover the central island and back walls of the alcoves.
      Find out more about Liberté ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring inviting entrance halls, minimalist Tokyo apartments and bathrooms with colourful sanitary ware.

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      MEE Studio creates wood-and-copper interior for cafe in former church in Copenhagen

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      Architecture firm MEE Studio has designed the interiors and bespoke wooden furniture for a cafe and boutique in the Nikolaj Kunsthal art gallery within an old church.

      The municipality-run gallery, which is set in a deconsecrated church in central Copenhagen, asked MEE Studio to design a “lively and functional” space.
      Before designing the interior spaces, which feature warm and tactile materials such as copper and wood, the rooms in Nikolaj Kunsthal first had to be restored.
      The gallery is located in a former church”The spaces had been used for various purposes since the 1980s including art installations and other changing uses,” MEE Studio founder Morten Emil Engel told Dezeen.
      “This has left the spaces with remnants of ad-hoc electrical wiring, bricked-up arches, blocked-off windows and arbitrary lighting. Additionally, there was no water supply or plumbing in the spaces that now have the cafe.”

      The studio reestablished the grand door and window openings in the space and replaced the old acrylic paint with breathable lime-based paint, while also adding acoustic plaster to improve the acoustics of the spaces.
      Untreated copper was used as a backsplash for the barAt the centre of the cafe, Engel created a long bar that also functions as a ticket counter and is made from solid oak wood.
      Wood was also used for all the other furniture, including benches, tables and sculptural shelves, which Engel designed specifically for the project using European oak from sustainable forestry.
      “I wanted the benches to reference church benches – a bit chunky and heavy,” he said. “The church architecture is very robust with the church tower having two-metre thick walls. So the furniture had to have some substance to them.”
      The furniture complements the “robust” church architectureEngel also aimed to give the pieces a contemporary feel by fusing their “heavy look” with more contemporary elements.
      “All the furniture has visible joinery and tectonics in fumed oak, which allows the user to see how they are made and assembled,” he said.
      “I added some decorative inlays in the bar counter and boutique shelves. Inlays were traditionally used as a way of repairing wood and I wanted to symbolise that repair can be beautiful and sustainable,” he added.
      “In this way, it is sending the message that the furniture should have a long life and be repaired if it ages.”
      Artworks decorate the walls, here Pull by Martha HviidBehind the central bar, a copper backsplash adds an eyecatching material detail together with the matching sink and worktops, which were designed in reference to the roof of the old church.
      “As many traditional buildings in Copenhagen, the roof of St Nikolaj Church is made with traditional copper roofing, which has aged to a rich green patina over time,” Engel said.
      “I wanted to reference the existing material palate of the church but use it in a new way. So the kitchen features worktops, sinks and backsplash in raw untreated copper, which will evolve beautifully with time.”
      Lime-based paint was used for the wallsThe white walls of the cafe and store were contrasted with not just the copper and wood but also a burgundy red fabric designed by fashion designer Raf Simons for Kvadrat, which was used for the cushions and backs of the sofas and chairs.
      The colour was a nod to some of the space’s original colour but could also help disguise red wine spills in the cafe.
      “Oakwood was already used throughout the church so it seemed natural to use oak as a material,” Engel explained.

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      “There was also the burgundy red paint which had been used originally for some woodwork, for instance, the stairs in the tower and the ceiling in what is now the cafe,” he added.
      “So it seems natural to work with an interpretation of the burgundy red for the color of the cushions. I matched the burgundy red to a fantastic Kvadrat textile designed by Raf Simons and it worked in providing vibrancy, but also as a practical colour in a cafe where red wine is served.”
      Red fabric was used for the seating, with the artwork Mercury (socks) hanging aboveAs well as the bespoke furniture pieces, the space was also decorated with carefully chosen artworks that have ties to the city of Copenhagen.
      “Mercury (socks) is a photograph by the famous Danish/Norwegian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset from a series of classical sculptures by the world-famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen,” Engel explained.
      “The Thorvaldsen Museum is located only a few minutes away from Nikolaj Kunsthal, so the work relates both to art from the 19th century and contemporary art from the 21st century which is what you find in Nikolaj Kunsthal.”
      Other recent interior projects in Copenhagen include Space10’s headquarters, which has a kiosk-like design library, and the cafe and shop design for Designmuseum Denmark by OEO Studio.
      The photography is by Paolo Galgani.

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      Keiji Ashizawa adds Blue Bottle Coffee shop to Kobe department store

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      Japanese studio Keiji Ashizawa Design has created the interior of the Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Kobe’s Hankyu department store, taking advantage of its display windows to connect the cafe with the street outside.

      The 173-square-metre cafe, which shares the department store’s ground floor with a number of apparel brands, has five large display windows.
      To open the coffee shop up towards the street, designer Keiji Ashizawa turned one of the windows into a take-out counter.
      One display window was turned into a take-out counterThe remaining window niches were filled with blue built-in seating, creating a splash of colour among the wooden furniture.
      Inside the cafe, square-shaped and rectangular furniture nods to the graphic look of the facade and is contrasted by round tables and large circular ceiling lights.

      “The furniture is mainly made of domestic wood in collaboration with the Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku, who specializes in working with oak wood,” Ashizawa told Dezeen.
      Wooden furniture and terrazzo tabletops were used for the interiorThe studio also mixed in terrazzo amongst the wooden furniture to give the cafe a welcoming feel.
      “By placing a large terrazzo tabletop with fine textures created by mixing grounded glass into the material, it adds to the soft and welcoming atmosphere that identifies Blue Bottle Coffee and their hospitality,” Ashizawa said.

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      “It is also used for the low coffee table surrounded by the sofas, creating a sense of harmony and elegance throughout the space of the cafe,” he added.
      While the studio was unable to change the material of the existing rough concrete floor, the department store allowed it to create a discrete demarcation by polishing the floor underneath the central tables.
      Circular pendant lights were made from raw aluminiumLarge disc-shaped pendant lights add a sense of drama to the coffee shop’s pared-back design.
      “With the idea of creating a high ceiling within the space, the pendant lights were made from raw aluminum to complement the industrial structures,” Ashizawa said.
      “Six pendant lights are placed in the central space at equal distances in three zones, creating a sense of rhythm and spatial balance.”
      The concrete floor was polished in part of the cafeThe wooden furniture inside the Blue Bottle Coffe Hankyu cafe has mainly been kept in its natural colour, but Ashizawa added bright colour to some of the wood.
      “In the space with concrete structures, the yellow color was added to balance the combination of wood and concrete, and the blue color was placed as a contrast,” he said.
      “We also designed the space to fit in with the apparel brands that share the ground floor.”
      Shelves were painted a bright yellowAshizawa has previously created a number of cafes for the Blue Bottle Coffee company, including a Shanghai store decorated with traditional Chinese roof tiles and a Tokyo outpost with a volcanic-ash counter.
      The photography is by Tomooki Kengaku.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Keiji Ashizawa DesignProject architect: Keiji Ashizawa, Tomohiko Fujishita, Masaru KiotyaConstruction: TankDesign supervision: Miyachi Office/Kunihiko MiyachiLighting design: Aurora/Yoshiki IchikawaFurniture: Karimoku Case Study/Ichinomaki Laboratory by KarimokuMetal works: Super Robot

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      Neri&Hu inserts shed into old lane house for Blue Bottle Coffee shop in Shanghai

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      Chinese studio Neri&Hu has inserted a stainless-steel shed into a Shanghainese lane house for Blue Bottle Coffee’s latest cafe in Shanghai, which opened to the public last week.

      Located in Zhangyuan in one of the area’s 140-year-old traditional Shikumen mansions, Neri&Hu’s design for the coffee shop aims to evoke “an intimate and nostalgic experience and bring back the memories of ‘home’.”
      The Blue Bottle coffee shop is located in an old Shanghainese lane houseShikumen, also known as lane houses, is a traditional type of Shanghainese house that was popularised during the 19th century. They usually feature high brick walls that enclose a small front yard, with residential units arranged close to one another in narrow alleys.
      For this project, Shanghai-based Neri&Hu kept the existing brick walls, wooden doors and windows of the original architectural facades but replaced the interior wooden structure with concrete.
      A shed made of stainless steel at the centre of the cafe is used as a coffee barThe formerly separate units in the building were removed to form a large open space for the cafe. A stainless-steel shed was erected at the centre of the space to serve as the main coffee bar area.

      The structure of the shed was built with brushed, perforated and bent stainless steel to maximise the transparency of the space and contrast the heavy palette of the existing architecture.

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      The areas around the bar hold seating arrangements including long benches, low stone tables, wooden stools, and vintage walnut furniture, which were chosen to reflect the traditional lifestyle in Shikumen.
      Neri&Hu also nodded to the informal constructions that people living in Shikumen houses used to extend their private spaces into the alleys, by adding metal rods and small platforms to existing structural columns.
      The steel span of the coffee shop shed and its integrated lighting design came from the clothes-hanging-rods and street lamps commonly seen in the old Shikumen homes.
      The seating area features a range of vintage furnitureBlue Bottle Coffee was founded as a small roastery in Oakland, California, in 2002 and has since grown into a chain of cafes across United States and Asia.
      This is the third Blue Bottle Coffee shop in mainland China. The first one was opened in February this year, designed by Schemata Architects, followed by the second one designed by Keiji Ashizawa Design in August, all located in Shanghai.
      Neri&Hu also recently turned an old textile factory in Beijing into the headquarters of a Chinese pastry brand.
      The photography is by Zhu Runzi.
      Project credits:
      Partners-in-charge: Lyndon Neri, Rossana HuAssociate-in-charge: Qiucheng LiDesign team: Jiaxin Zhang, Xi Chen, Peizheng Zou, Shangyun Zhou, Greg Wu, Luna HongFF&E design and procurement: Design RepublicGeneral contractor: Blue Peak Image Producing Co.,Ltd
      Dezeen is on WeChat!
      Click here to read the Chinese version of this article on Dezeen’s official WeChat account, where we publish daily architecture and design news and projects in Simplified Chinese.

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      Fourteen Stones Design revamps Tokyo warehouse into “coffee gastronomy” cafe

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      Tokyo-based Fourteen Stones Design has designed the Koffee Mameya Kakeru cafe for barista Eiichi Kunitomo in a former water transportation hub in Kiyosumi Shirakawa.

      Set in the Kiyosumi Shirakawa area of Tokyo, the coffee shop occupies a warehouse which Fourteen Stones Design renovated and extended “to preserve the appearance of the old warehouse as much as possible”.
      Koffee Mameya Kakeru is in an old warehouseThe studio removed the shutters from the front of the warehouse, adding a glass facade. The rest of the building, including the interiors, remains as it was – with minimal repairs made to the walls.
      It aimed “to make everyday coffee an extraordinary experience” with a full “course of coffee” served by baristas and the renovation has been designed to facilitate this.
      The white oak structure frames the coffee barA staggered rectangular frame of white oak at the entrance of the cafe, which echoes the coffee package design, dominates the interior space and provides a central visual motif for the scheme.

      This frame divides the entrance space from the main cafe where a U-shaped bar surrounding the barista workstations was placed.

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      The barista’s workbenches, which were made from black granite, were deliberately placed at the centre of the space to create “a stage set-up, which enables baristas to fully demonstrate their skills”.
      Besides the new seating area, restrooms, a kitchen, a laboratory and office space have all been renovated.
      Baristas work at black granite counters
      The service and bar countertops were made from “Jura Yellow” limestone. Featuring fossils from the Jura period, it was chosen for its texture and also for allusions to the passage of time – not only echoed in the coffee growing, roasting and brewing processes but also the journey of the brand from its inception 10 years ago.
      Fourteen Stones Design’s Yosuke Hayashi designed the custom furniture for the cafe in the same white oak as the frame structure. It was manufactured by Japanese company E&Y for the project.
      The space aims to create a “gastronomic experience” for coffee drinkersThe cafe’s owner Kunitomo believes baristas “act as a bridge between the customer and the roastery” and should be given “a social status comparable to that of a sommelier”.
      Baristas at Koffee Mameya Kakeru will serve single cups of coffee through to full courses of coffee, “elevated by the newly designed space to the realm of gastronomy”, according to the practice.
      Fourteen Stones Design has been shortlisted in the restaurant and bar interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. Other projects in the running include a rattan restaurant in Bangkok by Enter Projects Asia Co. and YODEZEEN’s Japanese restaurant in Kyiv’s city centre.
      The photography is by Ooki Jingu.

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