Hasta La Ideas

Czech studio A1 Architects covered the walls of this cafe in Prague with a tactile mixture of black plaster, coal and pieces of straw, in a modern take on the clay plasters used inside traditional Japanese tea houses (+ slideshow).

A1 Architects converted a nineteenth-century apartment with vaulted ceilings to create the Tea Mountain cafe, reinforcing the concept of a Japanese tea house by filling the space with charred log columns, each with an illuminated gilt section in its middle.

“We’ve already designed three tea houses and we are very much inspired and fascinated by Japanese architecture and its details,” architect Lenka Kremenova told Dezeen.

“We used even pieces of coal to emphasise the blackness so it feels like you want to touch not just look at the plaster,” she added, referring to the walls. “We always search for a certain kind of quality of materials which could be called ‘touchableness’.”

A gold-plated arch divides the tea house into two halves, creating a light side for service and a dark side for sitting down with a drink.

The first is painted in a shade of pale yellow, and accommodates a serving counter and wooden shelves stacked with tea. The opposite side features dark plastered walls and is filled with tables and stools made from ash wood.

“The seating is in the black part because it is supposed to be a more calm and relaxed place with an ambient atmosphere to enjoy drinking the tea,” Kremenova explained.

A row of globe lights are suspended at different levels above the serving counter, while wooden shelving around the edges of the shop are covered with teapots and other tea-related paraphernalia.

The shop sells a range of tea imported from Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan and China.

Photography is by the architects.

Here’s a project description from A1 Architects:

TEA MOUNTAIN, the teashop
a new concept of drinking tea

The shop called Tea Mountain, recently opened in Prague, brings a new experience how to enjoy the tea, next to contemporary style of serving it is also traditional gustation of high quality tea imported from Japan, South Korea, India, Taiwan or China. One of the main issues of a1architects and the owners discussion was how to present the tea in its best to wider audience in a delicate yet friendly manner.

Shop interior

Two worlds, two atmospheres… The seating and drinking happens under the dark vault with its calm appearance and just next to it in bright earthy colours one could buy or watch the presentation of tea. The space of two original 19th century vaults is divided by gold-plated arch line situated almost in the centre of the shop.

The black plaster with added pieces of coal and straw creates an ambient atmosphere and it gets out the customer in his first step into another atmosphere out of the busy street. The following part of the shop is rather light to unable one to focus on details of the tea presentation.

The seating at the table in the black part is accompanied with charred columns with inbuilt gilt cavity which serves as a spot light and brings beautiful warm yellow light on the table. The counter and display shelves are made out of ash wood with exceptional details like inbuilt limestone tea tray, rope handles or charred cover of the scale, all these small unique pieces could be rather seen in a second glance and await patient visitors. Refined details and simple work of layering are the main features of the Tea Mountain shop design.

Client: Martin Špimr
Authors: A1Architects( MgA. Lenka Křemenová, MgA. David Maštálka)
Project: A1Architects
SUPPLIER: Ateliér Mánes – Jakub Vávra
Noren fabric: Vít Svoboda a Alžběta
Graphics: Toman design
Area: 55 m2
Completion: November 2013
Design: Autumn 2013

The post Straw and plaster-lined cafe by A1 Architects
based on Japanese tea houses appeared first on Dezeen.

This baguette shop in Warsaw, Poland, by architects MFRMGR is modelled on market booths and stalls set up in the city during the 1990s (+ slideshow).

Polish firm MFRMGR, formerly known as Moko Architects, designed Serwus as a healthy and modern version of the traditional Zapiekanka stall, which served open baguettes topped with meat, vegetables, cheese and ketchup as a popular type of fast food.

“The entire spatial idea relates to the market booths where virtually everything was sold in Warsaw in the 90s,” said the architects.

“Generally, we have pleasant memories from that time when small businesses developed and huge changes took place in our country after the fall of communism,” they added.

Red and yellow steel frames – coloured to resemble ketchup and cheese – surround wooden serving counters, representing the framework of a market booth.

During construction the architects also exposed the original tiled floor, dating back to before the Second World War.

The interior is divided into five stalls. The first one is a welcome zone with the menu and cash register while the second zone separates the customer and staff area with a flap and gate.

The third stall is designed as an area for preparing sauces and storing ingredients. The fourth stall is the food preparation area and the fifth stall, in front of the window, features a high counter where customers can sit and enjoy their food.

Photography is by Jakub Certowicz.

Here’s a project description from MFRMGR:

Zapiekanka Bar

Recently, hamburgers and other types of food from distant places of the world have become extremely popular in Warsaw. However, we always felt sentimental about the typical Polish toasted baguettes called zapiekanka which were common fast-food in the 90s and were sold in hideous booths on markets or in trailers.

The basic zapiekanka was made with delicious baguette with mushrooms and real cheese with ketchup on top. Unfortunately, the typical tasty zapiekanka became extinct like the dinosaurs or we can say that they ate their own tail – instead of a yummy meal you could buy just a large frozen baguette with cheap ingredients (ham, cabbage, onion etc.) which was prepared in a microwave.

At Serwus we decided to experiment with the vision of zapiekanka. Apart from the reference to classics we created variations with original and healthy ingredients. Our offer is based on the idea of slow-food – each morning fresh products are prepared while the sauces (ketchup) is prepared using homemade methods. The ingredients, shape and size of the baguette was prepared by a partner bakery according to our guidelines. Zapiekanka is prepared in a fan oven.

The entire spatial idea relates to the market booths where virtually everything was sold in Warsaw in the 90s. Generally, we have pleasant memories from that time when small businesses developed and huge changes took place in our country after the fall of communism.

The small space features five such booths with different dimensions. Each stall is dedicated for a particular function in the process of preparing food. The structure of the stalls consists of powder-coated steel profiles which have the colour of ketchup and cheese. The frame of one stall is zinc-coated. Countertops and enclosures of the oven and refrigerators are made from softwood plywood coated with clear varnish. Round bulbs with visible filaments hang from horizontal steel connectors. Intensity of illumination can be regulated while the worktops can be illuminated with warm-colour fluorescent bulbs.

Each stall is equipped with all necessary elements for completing a certain function.
Stall 1 – welcome zone for the customer. This is where the menu and cash register is located. Under the counter there is a place for beverages and a small refrigerator. After ordering and paying the customer moves further into the restaurant.

Stall 2 – serves as a separation point between the customer zone and the employee zone. There is a flap and gate.
Stall 3 – the area for preparing sauces where the induction stove is installed. It also features the storage area for ingredients in plastic cases. It is possible to attach herb pots, knives, cutting boards etc. on the steel profiles.

Stall 4 – the area for preparing food, cutting bread and putting ingredients on the baguette. This area also features a large fridge, an oven and a storage area for bread in plastic cases. Apart from the multi-function hangers there is also a paper towel holder.

Stall 5 – the area for customers where they can enjoy their food, read a newspaper or have a cup of coffee. Due to the small space, this area features only a high counter where the guest can eat or talk to friends.

During renovation of this shop we discovered unique flooring from the pre-world war II period. The wooden frame where the glass panels were attached using putty was refurbished and repaired where necessary. The frame was coated with red varnish on the outside and cream-white varnish on the inside. We also successfully renovated the brass door handle. In order to easily locate the restaurant we have designed a neon light using old technology.

Project name – SERWUS – Zapiekanka Bar
Project city, country – Warsaw, Poland
Designers/architects – MOKO ARCHITECTS / MFRMGR / Marta Frejda , Michał Gratkowski /
Collaboration – Pamela Krzyszczak
Logotype – Lange & Lange
Status of project / expected completion – completed in 2013
Usable floor area: 18 m2

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on a market booth by MFRMGR appeared first on Dezeen.

Leaving behind the hippie farmers market vibe in favor of greener pastures with a more modern aesthetic, Oakland, California’s Juniper Ridge is becoming increasingly popular for their distinct scents and…

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Dezeen and MINI World Tour: in our first video report from Singapore, Colin Seah of local architecture studio Ministry of Design tells us how the recent cultural shift away from mass-market shops and restaurants is helping transform attitudes towards design in the city. 

“Singapore was known as a clean and green city,” says Seah. “Clean almost to the point of being boring.”

“There seemed to be a saturation of mass-market experiences. But from 2000 to 2005, things started to rapidly open up. Singapore now is a lot more exciting.”

Seah claims that many Singaporeans are choosing to stay away from established chains, preferring to spend their money in more boutique shops and restaurants.

In the movie he takes us to two recently rejuvenated parts of the city where independent retailers and food outlets are flourishing.

The first is Dempsey Hill, a former British colonial army barracks to the west of the city centre, which now hosts a wide range of independent restaurants and cafes.

“It was the first major adaptive reuse project in Singapore, where a building that was once governmental or institutional was given back to the market,” says Seah. “That shift has taken root and you see more districts now being reclaimed this way.”

Closer to the city centre is Haji Lane, a narrow street lined with two-storey shophouses in the Arab quarter of the city, in sharp contrast to the towering skyscrapers of the nearby financial district that Singapore is more famous for.

“Along Haji Lane you’ll find maybe 30 independent boutiques,” says Seah. “Just a great amount of variety without having to see a brand that you would find also in California or the UK.”

One of the first boutique hotels in Singapore was designed by Seah’s studio, Ministry of Design. Called New Majestic Hotel, it comprises four converted shophouse tucked away down a quiet street in Singapore’s Chinatown.

Seah believes that the recent demand for hotels like New Majestic Hotel provides an important source of work for designers in the city.

“Without this increased level of curiosity and diversity, firms like ours would not really be able to exist,” he says. “There would just be no market for the work that we do.”

He also believes that the cultural shift is encouraging more young people to study architecture and design.

“Because of the need for more firms to provide work of this nature, I think young people feel that it’s less of a risk to enter the design field,” he says.

“In Singapore, most of our parents want us to be accountants or lawyers or doctors. [To be an] architect is a bit dodgy and [if you study] interior design or art, you’re a lost cause. But not any more.”

Singapore’s government is also starting to take design seriously, Seah says. In 2008 it established SOTA (School of the Arts), which offers an arts and design-based curriculum for 13 to 18 year olds.

Private art schools have also emerged, such as Lasalle College of the Arts, designed by Singapore practice RSP Architects.

“Schools like SOTA are not just great physical examples of architecture,” Seah concludes. “They are also symbols of where Singapore is headed in terms of culture, in terms of design.”

We are in Singapore for World Architecture Festival and Inside Festival, and will be publishing interviews with some of the key speakers in the coming weeks.

See all our coverage of World Architecture Festival 2013 »

We drove around Singapore in our MINI Cooper S Paceman. The music in the movie is a track called Feeling Beast by Man Oeuvre. You can listen to more music by Man Oeuvre on Dezeen Music Project.

Watch all our Dezeen and MINI World Tour movies »

The post “Most of our parents wanted us to be
lawyers or doctors. Not anymore.” appeared first on Dezeen.

Located just four doors down from Paul Kasmin’s white cube space on 27th street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood sits a quiet jewel-box shop that serves as the ever-evolving home of the gallery’s newest venture, the …

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