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Voids Café

Studio SKLIM

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Bronze
Bronze

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Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Colour
7.17
6.58
7.50
5.75
6.75
Simona Franci
Simona Franci Principal and Design Director at Fortebis
The midnight blue in the walls dema...
8
8
8
8
8
Shannon Pringle
Shannon Pringle Interior Designer at Bernardon
Love the unique round shapes and se...
8
6
8
4
6.5
Jelle Sapulete
Jelle Sapulete Design Director at Adidas
Love how the design that was is ins...
8
8
8
6
7.5
Tetsuya Matsumoto
Tetsuya Matsumoto Head Architect at KTX archiLAB
6
5
7
5
5.75
Judith Haase
Judith Haase Architect at Gonzalez Haase AAS
8
6
8
5
6.75
Florian Seidl
Florian Seidl Design Manager at Lavazza
Overall great color palette and str...
8
8
7
6
7.25
Julie Payette
Julie Payette Cofounder and Partner at v2com newswire
6
5
7
5
5.75
Matteo Renna
Matteo Renna Founder at matteorenna | studio
I like the overall color palette an...
7
8
8
6
7.25
P.C.Ee
P.C.Ee Editor & Creative Director at industry+
6
5
7
5
5.75
Royce Epstein
Royce Epstein Design Director at Mohawk Group
Evocative use of color, especially...
7
8
8
7
7.5
alberto caiola
alberto caiola Design Director at Alberto Caiola Studio
7
6
7
7
6.75
Justin Bridgland
Justin Bridgland Founding Partner at More Design Office
Interesting how the background disa...
7
6
7
5
6.25
Comments
Innovation
Functionality
Creativity
Eco-Social Impact
Total
JURY VOTES
Bar
7.09
6.55
7.36
5.64
6.66
Simona Franci
Simona Franci Principal and Design Director at Fortebis
Interesting use of the space and sh...
8
8
7
7
7.5
Jelle Sapulete
Jelle Sapulete Design Director at Adidas
8
8
8
6
7.5
Tetsuya Matsumoto
Tetsuya Matsumoto Head Architect at KTX archiLAB
6
5
7
5
5.75
Judith Haase
Judith Haase Architect at Gonzalez Haase AAS
Interesting space with very nice de...
8
6
8
5
6.75
Florian Seidl
Florian Seidl Design Manager at Lavazza
Overall a great project. Nice idea...
7
6
7
5
6.25
Julie Payette
Julie Payette Cofounder and Partner at v2com newswire
6
5
7
5
5.75
Matteo Renna
Matteo Renna Founder at matteorenna | studio
Nice how the designer played with t...
8
8
8
6
7.5
P.C.Ee
P.C.Ee Editor & Creative Director at industry+
5
5
6
5
5.25
Royce Epstein
Royce Epstein Design Director at Mohawk Group
Love how intimate yet connected the...
8
9
9
6
8
alberto caiola
alberto caiola Design Director at Alberto Caiola Studio
7
6
7
7
6.75
Justin Bridgland
Justin Bridgland Founding Partner at More Design Office
7
6
7
5
6.25
Client
Grace Espresso
Floor area
28 ㎡
Completion
2019

The empty space in a coffee cup or matcha bowl was the form-giving inspiration for this micro café spanning only 28 square metres. Negative spaces punctuate the space and circular geometries are consistently carried throughout the rest of the built form carving out seating booths, countertops, display shelves and overhanging canopies. It is a process of subtraction and addition to create the operational and anthropometrical needs of the café. In this condensed space, it was essential that we balanced the numerous kitchen inventory with the customer zones, utilising every nook to add to that experience. We were able to create several working and customer zones including an experience/retail corner, a take-away counter, seating booths and even a small ‘Ritual Counter’ for conducting workshops and making drip coffee or bowls of powdered Japanese green tea (Matcha). The experience circle was designed as a suspended enclosure where customers can duck under and experience the smell of different coffee grounds and tea products. Counter spaces were carved out to bring together a closer interaction between customer and barista, simultaneously bringing them in closer proximity to the coffee making process with aroma and grinding/tapping sounds. Customer seating are circular cut-outs in the concrete counters with matching petal-like tables to match. The main powdered pink concrete counter top was custom-casted in 11 separate pieces. Amongst them a minimal surface concrete counter top for takeaways formed by using a special fabric formwork. Cracks were also purposefully cast in the concrete to allow planting to emerge from beneath, an inspiration taken from plants growing on old buildings. Circular metal tables were created to project from the walls and similarly from the concrete seating booths. The concrete counter block was visually made to be contiguous with the floor with adjoining gentle curved radii. The entire volume was entirely holstered from the ceiling with no supports connecting the bottom counter top mass, giving a surreal lightness about the whole structure. The overhanging volume was also rendered in heavily textured stucco inspired from gritty coffee grounds to create an anti-gravity coffee cloud. The resultant aesthetic from subtractions and additions, creates a massing that appears fluid with its own fuzzy logic, certainly not based on any premeditated form or symbol of what a café should be.