Microtopping® Ideal Work® covers the surfaces of a recently renovated Coffee Shop in China. Natural, velvety atmospheres and spatial dynamism distinguish the space.
Embracing old and new, inside and out, Caffè 1402 immediately catches the eye from the main road at the western entrance to the Aranya district, packed with tourists, along the coast of the Bohai Sea, China. The recently renovated restaurant maintains the existing exterior architecture made in red brick with a sloping roof, offering inside a variety of new shapes and volumes, including a reinvented courtyard built with large glass facades. This mix of old and new involved some work on both fronts, interior space and outdoor seating space.
Inside, Studio BLUE Architecture has added a new volume to the existing building: the rectangular box forms a new café experience integrating the functional needs of seating, waiting-area, bar, display and landscape, transforming itself into an open space that offers guests a variety of different experiences.
The concrete box that extends towards the street defines a new visual focus, arousing the curiosity to explore the space, thanks to the contrast between the old red bricks and the new concrete volume. A bar counter opens in the centre of the box to form a whole with the surfaces surrounding it, where guests can enjoy a coffee independently or communicate directly with the bartender. The cross-shaped platform outside helps to maintain visual continuity between indoor and outdoor, and at the same time divides the outdoor seating into four areas. The fixed outdoor furniture was also made of concrete, thus strengthening the continuity and visual integrity.
In this predominantly concrete-based environment, Microtopping® could not be missing. The Ideal Work® solution, in just 3 mm thickness, allows you to cover any type of surface, horizontal and vertical, giving it a material and velvety appearance. Ideal in the case of renovations, in Caffè 1402 Microtopping® has been able to grant a sense of continuity between the rooms, giving a soft and natural atmosphere, also thanks to the plant elements which well harmonize within the context.
