Few architectural typologies are as timeless as bakeries. A practice spanning thousands of years, the art of baking has diverse roots. Today, bakeries combine areas to gather, socialize, shop, and work. While industrialization and commercialization transformed the art of baking and baked goods, bakeries remain important community spaces for gathering and defining neighborhood identity.
Grinding grain into flour within mills and baking breads in their homes, the Romans introduced a bakers’ guild in 168 BC. Baking further spread throughout Europe and Asia, and modern bakeries as we know them would evolve from the open-air bakeries of Paris. Showcasing contemporary bakery design around the world, we’ve drawn together 13 bakeries. The article is inspired by the term “baker’s dozen” that originated from the practice of baking 13 items for an intended dozen, thus insuring bakers wouldn’t be fined for selling goods lower than a statutory weight. Collectively, they reflect the timeless, artisanal approaches to baking that center on tradition and craft.
Breadway Bakery / Lera Brumina + Artem Trigubchak
The Breadway bakery and café located in the center of Odessa, Ukraine is a mix of a café which serves breakfasts and lunches as well as a takeaway spot where is possible to buy bakery products to go. The architects of the projects Lera Brumina and Artem Trigubchak were tasked with creating an inviting, memorable space. It was decided to use a palette of contrasting bright colors and textures
Francis Artisan Bakery / Willis Kusuma Architects
Francis is a local artisan bakery designed by Willis Kusuma Architects with the concept of “artisan meets modernity” of a French-Japanese patisserie. Occupying one corner of the lower ground level of St Moritz Lippo Mall Puri, Jakarta, Indonesia, the bakery encloses an area of approximately 120m2. Given the brief to design a simple and unique yet accommodating bakery, the decision was to have a design approach that creates the warm feeling of a home.
Neon Bakery & Coffee / Studio 2Pi Architecture
The team's proposal was concerned with the renovation and refurbishment of an existing building that hosted an old taverna and was revamped as a bakery and coffee shop. It is a ground floor building constructed before 1955. Its positioned along the National Highway between Argos & Nafplio and as a result, its use and the architectural design is predetermined by the constant flow of people and goods in this busy road. The existing building consisted of adobe walls and a timber roof with byzantine tiles as covers.
Castro Bakery / LADO Arquitectura e Design
The most appetizing showcase opened in Porto, Portugal. Castro – Atelier de Pastéis de Nata, is the new destination on Rua Mouzinho da Silveira where you can find a homemade custard tart, coming out of the oven all day long. The premises are entirely dedicated to this Portuguese pastry specialty, with a signature recipe created by pastry chef Daniel Seixas. The entire process is done in sight of customers.
Berta Bakery & Coffee Shop / 3DM Architecture
Located in the heart of Gharghur, BERTA has a long history of bringing people together. From just after World War 2 up until just a few years ago, it acted as a tea room in the heart of this small village. BERTA was conceived as a continuation of this tradition, representing life in its simplest form, the bond between people, and the ability to appreciate every moment. The project is the personified feeling of being with somebody you know, who you look for when seeking comfort.
Style Bakery / SNARK
In Kiryu, Japan, the Style Bakery was opened as the first prototype Shop with a future view of store development. Renovating the long established bakery operating since 1930, the shop aims to be a new type of enterprise, incorporating the features of both locally owned and globally franchised stores. A light gray, which is the concept color of the brand, is used in tiles, lights, steel frames, and a dirt floor.
Bakery / Paulo Merlini Arquitectura
Before designing this project the team visited and analyzed other similar spaces trying to find some errors that could be corrected. They found out that a basic error was that most of these services only had one type of space. As a result, they created three different environments so that the costumer can select the space that fits their mood, rather than have to adapt to an imposing environment.
Omonia Bakery / bluarch
This bakery is a brand new project for the family behind the renowned Omonia brand famous for its Greek pastries. It sells pastries and breads prepared on premises in the see-through kitchen. The design of this store celebrates indulgence… the suspension of one’s everyday grind through the consumption of a sweet delight.
Elektra Bakery / Studioprototype Architects
This shop is part of a chain of family-run bakeries called 'Elektra' located in Edessa, Greece. Studioprototype had the opportunity to redefine the look of its shops with this pilot project. The shop is small, covering only thirty-five square metres and occupies a strategic corner on the main pedestrian high street. Working with a narrow, linear floor plan a rigorous language was developed for the shop based on a long marble food counter acting as a monolithic focal point of the spatial arrangement.
DomNato Bakery / LIVRE arquitetura
The project consists in the readjustment of an old house in a bakery, totaling 240 m2 of built area. As a restoration strategy, it was decided to preserve the old façade and to mark the area of the new intervention in an orange box. So, the project consists of two volumes that are reproduced both inside and outside. The strong color volume houses the production sites: confectionery, bakery, and kitchen. The old, blank area consists of the sector for bakery users.
Teller Bakery / Studio Michal Rosenzweig
Teller is a well-known bakery based in Jerusalem and provide breads and pastries to the best restaurants and hotels in the city. The new branch is a part of a 5300 square foot bakery and pastry factory. The bakery Specialty is their sourdough breads therefore it was important for the team to place the "bread library" where it`s the first thing you see as you enter the shop.
Bulka Cafe and Bakery / Crosby Studios
Designed by Crosby Studios architects, Bulka Cafe and Bakery is located in the Gorky Park in Moscow in the middle of the extensive gardens along the Moskva River. Thus the greenery theme of the park is projected into the interior design through various details letting a bit of sunny summer into short overcast days and long winter nights of Moscow. The wide open space is divided into zones by industrial looking shelvings decorated with potted plants and fresh vegetables waiting to be picked up by the chef for cooking..
12,000 Pink-Painted Wooden Sticks / Ideo arquitectura
This project consists of a new design of a third bakery in Madrid which makes bread and cakes. The client believes that every bakery should be unique and different to the other ones and the only specific design request is the use of their color, magenta. The building is located in the historic center of the town of Alcala de Henares. The bakery is on a ground floor of a historic building.
