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Architects: N+A Studio
- Area: 40 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Xiaobin Lv, Leo Wang
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Manufacturers: CDN
Text description provided by the architects. Located at Nanchang road in Shanghai's French concession, the project named UMAH is a coffee shop integrating baked beans and handmade coffee, which occasionally produces different kinds of coffee.
The historic street is home to a variety of small shops and has become the main attraction of the block as a rest place for those who want to explore the shops. People can enjoy a moment of peace in the hustle and bustle of the city. The whole interior of the cafe is like a big wooden box placed in the old buildings of Shanghai's longtang.
Designers hope that even in the small space visitors can also have a rich sense of space, creating three different types of dining space. Street-facing area: people sitting on the seats can face the street scene and watch the pedestrians passing by. It seems that they can forget being in a cafe, so that the visual boundary of the cafe is extended to the block, and the scale of the original architectural space is staggered and overlaps with the city.
Skylight area: ample sunlight shines through the sycamore trees overhead into the small cafe, allowing guests inside to experience the natural atmosphere.
Indoor area: for those who can enjoy a nice cup of coffee on weekdays without forgetting their work, enables them to work in this quiet atmosphere.
The black door frame with metal texture gives the space a sense of stepping in. The width of the metal frame was made to be extremely thin so as not to block the vision inside and outside the cafe. The bar counter is made of the same wood quality, after black rendering becomes the operation area of the barista, which has a certain sense of seriousness and sacredness. The bar lamp with fine strips also reveals the preciseness and delicacy of the barista. The exclusive area allows baristas to communicate coffee culture with customers in close proximity.
