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Local art collective Xpan has created a multi-purpose creative studio called Xpan.Ep.1 in Mexico City using raw steel, aluminium, and transparent polycarbonate panels for its interior. More
Mexican studio Worc Studio has inserted a minimalist boba tea shop into a colonial building in Mexico City, where drinks are passed into a translucent vertical “tunnel”.
Behind a traditional plaster facade with exposed stone trims, the compact Yoozoo shop in the Mexican capital’s Colonia Renacimiento neighbourhood emits a warm glow to entice passersby.
Boba tea fans in Mexico City can order and collect the drinks inside a polycarbonate tube”The exterior facade is integrated into a typical colonial building that radiates a minimalist charm that takes customers into a captivating polycarbonate tunnel filled with soft light,” said Worc Studio.
The shop solely sells variations of boba tea, or bubble tea – a drink that originated in Taiwan and is made of tea, milk, water, sugar and tapioca pearls.
The customer area is wrapped by translucent material on three sidesTo order and receive their iced milky drinks, the only space that customers can access is a tiny double-height area directly in front of the door.
“Occupying a small space, the design concept revolves around creating a journey for visitors, combining modern aesthetics with functionality,” said the studio.
Drinks are ordered and collected through black-ringed portholesDown two steps from the street, they enter into a vertical polycarbonate “tunnel” that curves around to enclose the space on three sides.
A circular light fixture above illuminates the translucent plastic and a singular blue-stone stool placed in the centre of the space.
The Yoozoo logo is affixed to the polycarbonate shell”Here, customers are invited to interact with the space, not only selecting their preferred boba tea flavours, but also capturing moments of joy and excitement with friends or loved ones against the backdrop of the vibrant interior,” said Worc Studio.
Two black-ringed portholes, one to the left and the other to the right, are used for placing and collecting drink orders.
MYT+GLVDK creates industrial-style restaurant in Mexico City
The Yoozoo team prepares the drinks in the U-shaped space around the central tunnel, where counters and shelves wrap the perimeter.
“The station behind the tunnel is designed to be efficient, with a streamlined counter and all the kitchen equipment,” Worc Studio said.
The tiny space is illuminated by a circular light fixture aboveTall windows in the street facade offer glimpses into the preparation zone, but digital menu boards and decorative wrought-iron railings obscure most of the view.
This ironwork is repeated in a contemporary style for the window frame and mullions above the door, and the Yoozoo logo which appears both inside and out.
The minimalist interior contrasts the building’s colonial-style exteriorMexico City has its fair share of fun and unusual dining and drinking spaces, including a recently completed fast-casual restaurant where exposed concrete walls are covered in wavy green metal mesh.
The bubble tea concept also lends itself to playful interiors, as seen at a London cafe where tiers of cork seating are arranged around brightly coloured tables.
The photography is courtesy of Worc.
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Arched niches provide stations for tattoo artists at Atelier Eva, located in a former Brooklyn hardware store transformed by designer Alp Bozkurt.
The Atelier Eva Grand Street parlour is the second in Brooklyn run by tattoo artist Eva Karabuda, who is renowned for her detailed, micro-realism tattoos.
Polycarbonate panels punctured by arched niches line the interior of Atelier Eva’s Grand Street studio”Created with an ambitious vision to reimagine tattoo culture following Eva’s own experiences feeling uncomfortable and unsafe as a woman in her early work environments, Atelier Eva offers a new kind of tattooing experience with the goal of providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all people,” said the studio.
While her first location on Havemeyer Street was designed in house, Karabudak turned to Alp Bozkurt for the Grand Street space – which at 3,000 square feet (280 square metres) is almost twice the size.
The arches reveal details of the original building, which was formerly a hardware storeThe building dates back to 1895 and was originally constructed as a hardware store, occupying a single story space that extends 115 feet back from the street facade.
Original features such as large roof trusses, skylights and brick walls were all restored and highlighted during the renovation work.
A pink-concrete table used for tattoo consultations is shrouded by a sheer curtainThe trusses are painted black, drawing the eye up to the ceiling, while the remaining structural elements are whitewashed for a clean look.
“A distilled material palette is deployed to create a warm and calming environment from otherwise industrial materials retaining the building’s original ethos,” said Bozkurt.
In the main space, the arched niches provide areas for the tattoo artists to store their equipmentWrapping the perimeter of the interior are translucent polycarbonate panels that sit a few inches in front of the brickwork, unifying the sequence of spaces.
All the way around, arches puncture the panels to frame original corbeling, and reveal other historic elements.
A planter is positioned in the centre of the otherwise sparsely populated spaceIn the front of the studio, beside the floor-to-ceiling glass facade, one arch provides a backdrop for a seating area with boucle-covered chairs, and pendant lights by Apparatus above.
Behind a pink-concrete reception counter is a consultation area, shrouded by a sheer curtain suspended from a curved metal track.
Williamsburg tattoo parlour Atelier Eva is designed to feel like a spa
“Visitors are offered glimpses of activity in the studio flooded by natural light while the artists and their clients maintain privacy,” Bozkurt said.
The group of artists offering a range of tattoo styles and piercings work in the large space beyond, where each is allocated a station aligned with an arch.
Pink concrete is also used for the reception counter and other furnitureFoldable padded tables for clients to lay on, stools for the artists and cabinets for storing equipment all tuck neatly into these niches when not in use.
The open space – which also hosts creative gatherings and events – is sparsely populated, other than a central pink-concrete planter that matches the consultation table and the counter.
The location on Grand Street is Atelier Eva’s second in BrooklynTogether, Bozkurt’s interventions create “a carefully choreographed sequence of experiences through varying degrees of transparency offered by various design elements”.
Other tattoo parlours with unconventional interiors include a minimalist space in Kyiv with holes slashed through its walls, a stark monochromatic space in New York and a studio in Paris featuring curtains printed with Hieronymus Bosch paintings.
The photography is by Atticus Radley.
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Architecture studio Gonzalez Haase AAS used aluminium and translucent sheets of polycarbonate to create the few fixtures and furnishings that appear inside this sparse Berlin office.The office belongs to trendy communications agency BAM and has been designed by Gonzalez Haase AAS as a celebration of “raw materiality and geometric simplicity”.
“The raw, minimalistic aesthetic serves as a blank canvas for the agency’s creative projects,” the studio explained.
Measuring 270 square metres, the office takes over the ground and first floor of a building at the heart of the German capital.
The spacious lower level has been left open so that the agency can use it for large-scale meetings, or transform into a showroom or gallery-style space for events.
It’s only interrupted by a floor-to-ceiling sliding partition that can be pulled across to divide the space into two separate rooms when necessary.
The partition is crafted from four sheets of polycarbonate and has intentionally been positioned to sit slightly diagonally to contrast the sharp right angles that appear elsewhere throughout the space.
A white flight of stairs with a wire-frame balustrade leads up to the office proper.
Raw aluminium has been used to craft a series of blocky furnishings at this level, most notably a 22.5-metre-long shelf that extends from one side of the room to the other.
The shelf incorporates several open and closed storage cupboards, and a bench seat where staff can sit to eat their lunch.
Aluminium has additionally been used to make the long central work desk and the cabinetry in the small kitchenette.
Another angled polycarbonate partition appears at this level, but in this instance separates a boardroom.
“These monumental [aluminium] elements find balance in the large, translucent walls of polycarbonate sheeting,” added the studio.
Berlin’s Brutalist Silence office has barely anything inside
Further textual interest is created by the chipped wood and wool acoustic panels that have been staggered across the ceiling. They’re inset with simple strip lights that illuminate work areas below.
Gonzalez Haase AAS was established in 1999 by Pierre Jorge Gonzalez and Judith Haase.
The studio often applies a pared-back aesthetic to its projects – last year it completed Tem-plate, a fashion concept store in Lisbon that has been simply finished with white walls, concrete floors and display fixtures clad in crinkled silver metal.
As well as BAM’s office, other minimal workspaces in Berlin include Brutalist Silence, an office designed by Annabell Kutucu that features exclusively concrete surfaces and only a handful of furniture.
Photography is by Thomas Meyer.
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