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Cafe la Miell / Suppose Design Office
Located in Niihama in Ehime, Japan, the Café la Miell lacked the space needed to accommodate the number of daily customers. To combat this shortcoming, the client wished to open a new café across the street that would be able to hold 80 customers. To create the new Café la Miell, Suppose Design Office utilized the one meter drop of the site so that instead of having a standard two story café, as the client requested, the café would become a split level space with one floor at the building’s base level, and one at street level.
More about the cafe after the break.
Since the café needed parking, the wall facing the cars is completely opaque, yet, as customers turn the corner, the café’s dominant concrete components part to allow light to flood into the seating area. From the inside, the dialogue between the heavy concrete and the open glass creates a pleasant setting to enjoy a coffee.
All images courtesy of Suppose Design Office.
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20 comments »
somehow wanna sit ond’ roof…
fantastic concept… really like the internal spaces created and the solid/ clear areas of the facade!
Nice. I like how the split level creates a very interesting and inviting interior, and the use of materials both inside and out is astonishing. I agree with commenter tommi, the roof begs a sit down, at least to take in the views. Awesome project.
These guys are putting out a great body of work. impressed once again.
loving the drama of the design. although it is a “harsh” angle, the materiality and light within the space makes it comfortable and inviting.
I enjoy it
Amazing, love the strategy and concept. Love how the materials combine
Very awkward and clumsy, especially the entry, where one has to enter as if the ones own motion could open such an acute angle. These people need formal training!
what do you mean? …”ones own motion could open such an acute angle.”
There is no acknowledgment in the geometry of the act of entering. One enters into a slice, which has the formal equivalence of entering on the end of a wall, rather than its face. The architects could have taken a piece of the slope and rotated it up until it was horizontal, so as to welcome visitors. Entry as built is a guillotine.
I AGREE WITH TOMMI I KIND MISS SITS AND TABLES ON THE ROOF
IT`S THE!! PLACE TO HAVE A COFE HOWEVER THE STRATEGY IT`S STRONG ENOUGH TO STAND
COOL PROJECT!
SALU2!
i like it, the uni-body facade, the space created inside (half triangle) and the subtracted facade as an inner court, but somehow i wonder, why they used stone and massive concrete instead of grass on the roof?? for me, it is better to use grass or combine them..
The entrance is great
Since you can’t access the project on the ends, I don’t see how it really takes advantage of the 1 meter elevation change. The experience of the split level is a sunken pit…
I also have to agree on that entrance — the canopy alone (try as it might) doesn’t overcome the fact that you’re entering through a portal in a very large wall. It might have been nicer to enter on the other side and ‘go up’ to get your coffee since you’d really engage with that dramatic slope of the ceiling…
nice idea..i like it…
Singular; as often as architect’s embrace/attempt “contextualism,” it’s fair to say we don’t expect them to hold so tightly to that concept when the context is a parking lot. Suppose Design is certainly devoted to it, even to the point of wrapping the restaurant itself with the parking lot’s texture and coloration. Provocative, if nothing else.
The inner spaces look very cozy to me.
so lovely ,like it
Magnificent!!! I only have some doubts about the furniture election.
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