Schemata Architects stacks up purple bricks inside South Korea’s first Blue Bottle Espresso cafe

The materiality of Seoul’s structure knowledgeable the interiors of this Blue Bottle Espresso cafe, which Schemata Architects has accomplished with metal surfaces and red-brick fixtures.

The sparsely-decorated cafe is located in Seoul’s artsy Seongsu neighbourhood, surrounded by craft espresso bars and natural eateries that occupy disused warehouses.

That is the primary Blue Bottle Espresso cafe to seem in South Korea, however Schemata Architects has already designed a number of of the model’s Tokyo branches.

Amongst them is one within the metropolis’s Roppongi space that is nearly completely lined in basswood, and one other within the Kiyosumi-Shirakawa locale that is topped by a plant-filled atrium.

Within the new three-floor Seongsu location, every degree is devoted to a unique use. The cafe has been designated to the basement – a call made by the apply after seeing that the bottom flooring missed a busy highway typically blocked with site visitors.

“Having the cafe within the basement supplies a relaxed and peaceable area away from the bustle on the bottom,” it defined.

At its centre is a big stainless-steel service counter, above which a bit of the ceiling has been reduce away to offer views to the higher flooring.

Giant stacks of purple bricks – a fabric usually used to clad the facades of buildings in Seongsu – have been dotted all through the area, the place model merchandise like packets of espresso and mugs will be displayed.

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“As a mark of respect for [Seongsu’s] historical past, we determined to additionally use brick contained in the constructing,” defined the apply.

A brief set of stairs leads right down to a lowered seating space that is dressed with timber tables and chairs, in addition to a few lengthy beige sofas.

The bottom degree performs host to a roastery, a storage room for espresso beans and an space devoted to cupping: the apply of observing the style and aroma of brewed espresso.

This entire flooring is fronted by glass, permitting passersby on the road a glimpse on the model’s coffee-making course of.

Upstairs on the second flooring are workplaces for workers.

Whereas a majority of surfaces within the cafe are uncovered concrete, a variety of components just like the staircase balustrade, doorways and structural columns have been crafted from or clad in stainless-steel to match the service counter on the basement.

“The essential design guidelines for Blue Bottle Espresso cafes remained the identical on this venture, which is to make the most of a restricted variety of supplies to create an area with a way of unity and to create a flat relationship between the shoppers and the workers over-the-counter,” the apply’s founder, Jo Nagasaka, informed Dezeen.

Blue Bottle Espresso was initially based in 2002 in California. It is not the one caffeine model to go for having pared-back cafes – % Arabica opened a department in Hong Kong’s Star Ferry terminal which options concrete surfaces and easy white high-tables the place clients can stand and luxuriate in their drinks.