cafe

A living wall designed in collaboration with David Brenner of Habitat Horticulture introduces greenery into the cafe. "It makes you feel like you're in a courtyard," Williams says. "It helps with acoustics and plays with something soft that's not with the rest of the kit of parts." Emeco's iconic Navy chairs punctuate the interior. "We tried to select objects that are beautiful and functional," Williams says. His team looked at we looked at hundreds of chairs and were searching for a design that would work well with the overall look of the cafe but also stand out. The floor is reclaimed oak.

The space is dedicated to roasting the company's small-batch Reserve coffees, which are then distributed to Starbucks locations around the world. 6,654 square feet of the space are occupied by a tasting room and cafe with food pairings.

BIT UNION AKERSGATA (OSLO): The marquee moments in BIT UNION Akersgata—which opened in January 2016— culminate around the organic sweep of the floating Corian service counter. Clean lines form from brass, glass and wood finishes, neatly showcasing cafe offerings. While overhead, the undulating, three-dimensional, oak drop-ceiling introduces an element of the psychedelic into cafe proceedings. Photo: Paul Paiewonsky

Peggy Guggenheim Cafe

As you can see from the bright accents of powder blue and Barbie pink, the interior is meant to elicit a strong response. According to Note, owner Michael Toutoungi said that he wanted a space that "people either love or hate and that nobody is indifferent to." The aesthetic is definitely stronger and more playful than most cafe's I've visited.

"Across the room is the first 25 bench I ever made; it was salvaged from a now-closed restaurant I codesigned, called Ping’s Cafe, where Aileen and I met. Hanging over the bench is our first Bocci 14 light fixture. I feel like it would be bad luck not to have it in the house. Other pieces in the kitchen—like the wooden island Aileen found in an alleyway and the yellow ceramics by Knabstrup, a Danish company active in the 1960s—we’ve collected along the way.”

A 1920s pier building in the Port District of San Francisco is vibrantly filled with new offices for global design firm IDEO. A wide range of meeting spaces provide for an eclectic office atmosphere. “Phone Booths” permit private communication, while much of the office is designed to encourage overlap and communal interaction. Perforated felt panels slide along a rail to create acoustic partitions while maintaining visual transparency. A kitchen and cafe space, set around a large table, faces the Embarcadero with new garage doors, creating a strong visual connection between the IDEO community and the busy pedestrian walkway of the Embarcadero.

Inside houses a cafe and multi purpose social space, which will also host special events throughout the summer. The pavilion’s dynamic shape invites visitors to move through the space, revealing its changing form. Image courtesy of Smiljan Radic Studio.

A CNC-milled map of San Francisco by artist Dave Marcoulier hangs behind a communal table. The red star denotes the cafe's location. As a local company, Peet's sought to reflect the neighborhood and orient the design to its surroundings.

"Hosteling was always based on the personal sharing of information and great experiences—we wanted the design to play into that ethos," says Mekhayech. In addition to guest rooms, the Generator Paris has different bars, cafes, and restaruants within its walls.

BIT UNION AKERSGATA (OSLO): The marquee moments in BIT UNION Akersgata culminate around the organic sweep of the floating Corian service counter. Clean lines form from brass, glass and wood finishes, neatly showcasing cafe offerings. While overhead, the undulating, three-dimensional, oak drop-ceiling introduces an element of the psychedelic into cafe proceedings. Photo: Paul Paiewonsky

Tom Dixon's Fluoro stools and Moooi chairs adorn the cafe. A Castor tube light hangs above a communal table. Photo by Nikolas Koenig.

At its waterfront location along San Francisco's Embarcadero, The Plant is a comfortable coffee shop by day and a sleek restaurant/lounge by night. The cafe preserved the 18-foot exposed timber ceilings and 16-foot casement windows typical of the historic 1900s warehouse. Conceived and executed by CCS Architecture, The Plant prides itself on being one of the greenest cafes in San Francisco. Solar panels on the roof power the kitchen and cafe, while a water Electrolyzer converts tap water into acidic and alkaline cleaning fluid for the cafe's surfaces. Other standout green materials include reclaimed wood, recycled tiles, and energy efficient lighting, all complemented by the living wall art of Flora Grubb. Pier 3, The Embarcadero #108

Here's the cafe's front at 66 Albert Road in Woodstock. The studio's Fairlegs tables and benches outfit the space.

Tymianek is a family cafe, which has been composed out of passion and love for the children. It is a place, where parents and children feel comfortable.

Journal Canteen, upstairs from Journal Cafe