Hasta La Ideas

Two hundred and seventy six teacups are suspended from the ceiling of this coffee shop in Bucharest by Romanian studio Lama Architectura (+ slideshow).

Origo, by Lama Architectura, is a coffee shop by day and a cocktail bar by night.

“Our goal was to create a relaxed atmosphere using natural materials and colours, but also to have a little tension using contrasts,” explain the architects.

A long bar clad with raw metal sheets runs the entire length of the space, topped with a solid oak counter.

Towards the back of the shop the bar is wrapped in a sheet of folded Corten steel.

A jack allows the bar to be raised from 80 centimetres during the day to 110 centimetres in the evening.

Hundreds of teacups form a cloud of white that appears to hover above the bar, described by the architects as “a very airy, white line; a reinterpretation of the manner that glasses are hung over the bar.”

Black-painted walls contrast with the wooden rafters above, which were revealed after dismantling the existing plaster ceiling and painted white.

Carefully angled spotlights create dramatic contrasts between light and dark, casting shadows in the shape of giant teacups onto the walls.

Tables throughout the shop are constructed from criss-crossing metal rods and oak tops, while lightbulbs housed in coffee drippers descend from the rafters above.

Earlier this year we featured a steampunk-inspired coffee shop in Cape Town.

Other cafes we’ve recently posted on Dezeen include a cupcakery with a glass house-shaped facade and the cafe within the recently reopened Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

See more stories about cafes »

Photography is by Radu Malasincu.

Here’s a project description from the architects:

Origo is the answer to the demand of a very passionate barista for a place for himself that should function as a coffee-shop during the day and a cocktail bar during the evenings. We like to think of it as his personal urban living in which we discovered some fantastic, authentic and old wooden beams after dismantling the existing plaster ceiling. We kept them and painted them white.

After understanding what is important from his point of view for a great coffee moment, we tried to mirror his beliefs and create a space that would allow coffee to be the star. Our goal was to create a relaxed atmosphere using natural materials and colors, but also have a little tension using contrasts (dark grey versus light wood color, wood versus metal).

The bar is the main element of the interior (almost over scaled for such a small place) and has a jack that allows it to rise from 80 cm during the day to 110 cm in the evenings. It is finished from raw metal sheets for the front face  and Corten and oak massive wood for the counter top.

The massiveness of the bar is contrasting with the 276 cups installation that is floating above, a very aery, white line, an reinterpretation of the manner  that glasses are hanged over the bar.

We designed the lighting fixtures having in mind the love for coffee and using coffee drippers. We have also designed the tables especially for this project.

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Lama Architectura appeared first on Dezeen.