Cake Architecture hides low-lit London speakeasy in former security station
SOMA 2.0 is a sleek speakeasy-style bar by London studio Cake Architecture, tucked under the DLR railway at Canary Wharf, with a “deliberately austere” facade. More
Cake Architecture
Subterms
Latest story
More stories
- in Rooms
Cake Architecture draws on Bauhaus principles for Hoxton bar
Cake Architecture has renovated A Bar with Shapes for a Name, an east London cocktail bar featuring “utilitarian” interiors.
A Bar with Shapes for a Name owes its title to the yellow triangle, red square and blue circle that are emblazoned on its facade in a nod to the primary colours and understated geometry commonly associated with the Bauhaus.
Tall tubular chairs feature on the ground floorWhen creating the bar’s minimalist interiors, Dalston-based Cake Architecture took cues from the influential German art and design school that was established in 1919 and advocated for an emphasis on functionality, among other similar principles.
Located at 232 Kingsland Road in Hoxton, the cocktail bar was renovated by the studio to serve as a multipurpose venue.
Cake Architecture created a smooth ground-floor bar from reddish plywoodCake Architecture doubled the bar’s capacity by adding a basement, which acts as a “kitchen-bar” room, and refurbished the ground floor’s existing seating area as well as a classroom-style space that offers a location for rotating events or workshops.“These spaces have specific functional requirements and we selected colours and materials to suit,” studio director Hugh Scott Moncrieff told Dezeen.
It was positioned opposite a rectilinear light installationUpon entering the bar, visitors are greeted by the main seating area or “showroom”, which was designed to be warm and inviting.
Tall tubular chairs finished with neutral rattan were positioned around chunky geometric tables made from birch ply stained to a rich, reddish-brown hue.
The renovation included the addition of a new basementThe team also used the same timber to create the space’s curving bar, which is illuminated by a squat, cordless table lamp by lighting brand Flos.
Opposite the bar, a glowing rectilinear light installation by photographer Steve Braiden was fitted to the wall underneath bench-style seating reminiscent of early Bauhaus furniture designs.
A steel, glass-topped table sets an industrial tone”We looked in particular at projects by the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius,” reflected Scott Moncrieff.
“Gropius is a master of this elegant zoning through the application of colour and form,” he added.
The “classroom” includes steel-framed tablesDownstairs, the low-lit basement was created to house additional seating as well as “all of the crazy machinery they use to prepare the drinks,” the designer said.
The basement is characterised by a bespoke central table by Cake Architecture and furniture designer Eddie Olin.
Red, yellow and blue accents define a sculptural lampConsisting of a steel frame that “floats” over a central leg, the table was topped with a glass surface and its base was clad in phenolic-coated plywood to match the floor and walls.
“This new basement is predominantly a production space – so the palette reflects this with hardwearing, utilitarian and industrial materials,” said Scott Moncrieff.Henley Halebrown creates Bauhaus-informed offices in converted London warehouse
A thick, felt curtain in ultramarine adds a pop of colour to the otherwise pared-back space.
With its pale blue walls and Valchromat-topped, steel-framed tables, the ground-floor “classroom” pays homage to the Bauhaus as an educational institution.
A tall blackboard provides space to learn in the classroomBrighter blue vinyl covers the floors while a sculptural lamp featuring red, yellow and blue circles echoes the bar’s logo.
A tall blackboard and overhead strip lighting add to the classroom feel of the space, which is used for various group events.
Thin vertical lights frame the bathroom sinkCake Architecture worked closely with the bar’s founders Remy Savage and Paul Lougrat when creating the interiors, which were primarily informed by the duo’s way of working.
“The team has a conceptually driven ethos drawn from the theory and practice of Bauhaus embedded in everything they are doing. We found that incredibly exciting,” explained Scott Moncrieff.
A Bar with Shapes for a Name is located on London’s Kingsland Road”The Bauhaus phrase ‘party, work, play’ was pertinent to some early ideas and this carried through all our design discussions,” noted the designer.
“The space enables these three things. Separately as individual functions and simultaneously as a representation of the overall atmosphere of a bar!”
Cake Architecture previously worked with interior designer Max Radford to create a curtain-wrapped speakeasy in London’s Soho. The studio also designed a workspace for London agency Ask Us For Ideas in the same part of the city.
The photography is by Felix Speller.Read more: More
- in Rooms
Cake Architecture creates London office space spread across two contrasting floors
Cake Architecture has designed a workspace for London agency Ask Us For Ideas using materials and forms that are in “complimentary contrast” with each other.
Split across the ground floor and basement of a building in southeast London’s New Cross, the office offers a new home to Ask Us For Ideas (AUFI) – a consultancy founded in 2010 to connect brands with creative studios.
The Ask Us For Ideas office occupies a basement (top image) and ground floor (above) in southeast LondonThe interior consists of a crisp white street-facing gallery and office space on the ground floor, as well as a “speak-easy style” subterranean space with a meeting, lounge and bar area used for collaborative co-working.
“We’re a business that centres around making connections,” AUFI founder Nick Bell told Dezeen.
“The brief, in essence, was to create a space that was a physical manifestation of the role we play within the creative industry – a space for connection, somewhere that above being a beautiful place to work was a place that brought people together.”A white gallery and office space are housed on the ground floorOn a practical level, the brief called for office space for the company’s ten staff members alongside a street-facing gallery and concept store space for various events, plus enough room to host clients and agencies.
In response, London-based Cake Architecture set out to create a place that “feels somewhere between the home and the office”, using a mixture of materials and textures to divide up the large open-plan areas into multiple zones.
A grey carpet runs up the walls of the work area”There were a couple of references and key drivers pushing the concept for this project forward,” said Cake Architecture.
“Firstly the AUFI website itself. It has this layered, multi-dimensional aesthetic and we thought it could be really interesting to try and translate this into 3D physical space,” the practice added.
“We started thinking about this layered approach to space-making, removing all internal partitions, maximising light, space, air and experimenting with layers of material, texture, colour and form as a kind of 3D collage.”
The same carpet coats a central volume that conceals the staircaseSolid partitions were removed and a spiral stair was inserted into the centre of the plan, unlocking the basement for use and further rationalising the layout and flow around the office.
The two separate floors also provided an opportunity to create two very different moods and atmospheres.
A spiral staircase runs between the two levels”For us, this project was an attempt at realising a holistic quality of space with materials and forms that are in complimentary contrast with one another,” explained Cake Architecture.
“In this sense, the consistent theme is really an exercise in playing with contrast.”Emil Eve Architects retrofits own office in brutalist building in Hackney
The crisp white gallery and office space on the ground floor features mesh panelled walls for mounting and displaying work.
A silver-grey carpet applied to the walls and floors takes visitors through to the main office area at the back of the room.
Custom steel-framed desks topped with Marmoleum-lined birch plywood provide workspace for the permanent members of staff.
Darker walls and furnishing create a different atmosphere downstairsIn the centre of the room, a large monolith clad in the same silver-grey carpet conceals a spiral staircase made of galvanised steel that draws guests downstairs.
Cake Architecture worked with interior designer Max Radford, who consulted on the project and steered the furniture selections including Robin Day’s injection-moulded Polyside chair from 1963 and upholstered swivel Howe 40/4 chairs.
A long table provides space for collaborative work sessionsThe materials and colours used downstairs in the co-working space are warmer and calmer than those used upstairs, with the walls and ceilings finished in a dark brown limewash render.
Dark hardwood flooring contrasts with areas of soft and shaggy carpet while mesh screens and a neon-yellow mesh curtain provide further subdivision.
A bespoke aluminium and glass table takes centre stage in the meeting room and a long table stretching through the middle of the basement is used for collaborative work sessions. A selection of mid-century armchairs provides space for quieter moments.
The dimly lit meeting room features an aluminium and glass tableA stainless steel kitchen and bar with a raised floor area serve as a platform for socialising before, during and after work.
Furniture pieces include green Alky lounge chairs by Artifort from the 1970s, Handkerchief chairs by Massimo Vignelli and Howe 40/4 side chairs.
Green Alky chairs by Artifort feature in the lounge areaLos Angeles design studio Spiritual Objects was commissioned to create a series of unexpected interventions for the space such as a hand-painted bouquet of flowers on the gallery window and a tulip-shaped door handle powder coated in fluorescent yellow.
“The Tulip Pull door handle is an amazing illustration of the power and impact a beautifully made object can have on a space,” explained Bell.
“It marks the threshold of the building and is the first thing you physically come into contact with. I believe these moments consciously and subconsciously impact people massively, setting a tone for their experience as they continue through the building.”
Spiritual Objects created a tulip-shaped pull handle for the office’s main doorPreviously, Cake Architecture has collaborated with Max Radford on a subterranean cocktail bar in London’s Soho that uses colours borrowed from Indian artworks.
The photography is by Felix Speller and the styling by Tamsyn Mystkowski.Read more: More
