Coffee culture continues to thrive in the contemporary world, with a noticeable shift from the dominance of chains & franchise stores to a growing market for prosumer coffee. As more and more coffee consumers become prosumers, individuals who both produce and consume, they are turning coffee-making into a hobby, even a ritual, and are expecting coffee shops to keep up. Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable, paying close attention to the source and type of beans, brewing methods, and equipment. They also appreciate the design of coffee machinery, not just for its functionality but for its aesthetics, efficiency, and space management. This surge in interest, especially in Asia, has led to changes in coffee shops’ operations. Many individual coffee shops, responding to the rise in consumer spending power and interests, are motivated to focus on creating unique, immersive experiences for an ever-growing marketable audience.
Coffee shops have simple, functional architectural requirements. A well-designed water bar for brewing and serving coffee, combined with thoughtfully arranged seating, is often all that’s needed. This inherent simplicity allows architects and designers to experiment and create innovative coffee shop environments, emphasizing materiality, color palettes, and the visitor experience. Coffee shops also offer an opportunity for architectural interventions that can reshape interior spaces and even influence the broader built environment.
Regarding design, coffee shops are emerging as a fast fashion for architecture. With relatively low startup costs compared to other businesses, requiring fewer staff and equipment, more investors are willing to venture into the coffee shop model. The flexible square footage, ranging from 10 sqm to entire multi-story buildings, further enhances this trend. Many coffee shops operate on short-term leases, with design strategies to attract attention quickly and establish a strong brand image. This often leads to a cycle of constant build and rebuild. However, long-term establishments also exist, depending on the investors’ vision and financial capabilities, creating diverse coffee shop projects.
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Creating Calm: How Minimal Palettes Elevate Coffee Spaces
A highly restrained material palette is a notable trend in contemporary coffee shop interiors, particularly those adopting the fast fashion model (minimal investment, quick turnaround, and short-term commitment). When carefully selected and executed, this approach offers several key advantages. First, it creates an atmosphere of minimal intervention and spatial stillness, as if inviting visitors into a calm, self-contained dimension. This sense of simplicity helps patrons escape distractions, drawing their attention away from the chaotic urban environment and allowing them to immerse themselves fully in the coffee shop experience.
The restrained palette also enhances the aesthetic appeal of the coffee itself. As light roast coffee gains popularity in the new coffee wave, its diverse aromas are celebrated both in the cup and within the shop. A minimalist interior design that acts as a blank canvas allows the coffee to take center stage, much like galleries and museums design understated spaces to highlight the art. In this case, the coffee becomes the focal point, from the beans to the finished drink.
Additionally, this approach requires cleverly concealing the machinery and processes behind the scenes, creating a sense of effortless elegance. Though the space appears simple, it masks a meticulously designed and executed workflow, from sourcing beans to extracting the perfect espresso shot, ensuring the focus remains on the customer’s experience. The restrained palette also helps in budget management – choosing a bulk of the same material and constantly sourcing from similar manufacturers help make the design and construction process efficient and avoid any unnecessary risks of shipping delays, pricing surprises, and management errors.
Ton Corner Coffee Shop / TON Architects
Hakodate Sensyuan Sohonke Café / Jo Nagasaka + Schemata Architects
SooSoo Coffee / LABOTORY
2050 Coffee Shop / TEKI Design
Designing for Interaction: Playful and Immersive Coffee Environments
Another approach in contemporary coffee shops involves more time and capital investment to create immersive spatial experiences for patrons. In these spaces, the interior design and architectural elements are no longer just a backdrop for celebrating coffee but are thoughtfully crafted to engage visitors on multiple levels. These design strategies actively involve the user through playful features like slides, dedicated terraces, or stairways that offer unique spatial experiences or, more passively, through water features, framed views, and other elements that captivate and immerse visitors in the environment.
For instance, Kpi Cantel Braga embraces a bold approach by using vibrant, solid colors throughout the interior. Coupled with clearly defined zones, it includes a playful slide for adults and children, encouraging interaction with the space. These features invite users to stay longer, enjoying their coffee in a dynamic and engaging setting. The design becomes a focal point, turning the coffee shop into a destination rather than just a place to grab a drink.
This interior strategy shifts the focus from coffee alone to creating a cohesive experience where the space becomes part of the attraction. Instead of acting as a neutral, gallery-like canvas, the space complements the aroma of the coffee, forming a harmonious connection between the interior and the product. The design and coffee blend to create a fully immersive experience. In this approach, the quality of the coffee is inseparable from the success of the architecture and design, making drinking coffee a rich, multi-sensory experience.
Kopi Cantel Braga / Studio ASA
Seven Island Coffee / mttb
Time to B Café / NONE SPACE
Birdie Cup Coffee / F.O.G. Architecture
Beyond Interiors: Coffee Shops Pushing Boundaries of Architecture
These coffee shops leverage architecture itself, relying less on the surrounding built environment or context to attract customers, instead using the architecture as a creative playground and experimental investigation. The design often pushes both interior and architectural boundaries, exploring new possibilities within specific constraints. For instance, Ka CCoffee’s design process embraced the challenge of creating architecture within strict investment limitations. The design architect, Nguyen Khac Phuoc Architects, noted:
“8x20m plot of land, 5-year lease term, and low investment cost (500 million VND) are the conditions and context for architects to propose a coffee shop model to maximize construction time, reduce labor, and reduce the portion of concrete construction” — Nguyen Khac Phuoc Architects.
The goal is often to drive commerce, tourism, or foot traffic to the surrounding area. Unlike the flexible, transient “guerilla” approach of other coffee shops, which move and adapt to shifting urban conditions and rely on the success of the neighborhood, this strategy seeks to use the coffee shop itself as a catalyst for the area’s future development and success, contributing to a more permanent and influential urban fabric.
A prime example is the Yellow Submarine Coffee Tank, named Project of the Month by ArchDaily in 2016 and won the 2017 Building of the Year Award (Hospitality). Designed with an exploratory architectural approach, the coffee shop pushes the limits of indoor-outdoor spaces. It challenges the interplay of light and shadow through the creative use of brick and an outdoor pilotis structure. Its later-on expansion further explores architectural boundaries, experimenting with cantilevers, staircases, and abandoned, ruin-like structures. The Yellow Submarine Coffee Tank reimagines interiors and rethinks architecture through the lens of a coffee shop, transforming it into an opportunity for architectural innovation and development.
Yellow Submarine Coffee Tank / Secondfloor Architects
Little Stove & Little Stump Coffee Shop and Playground / NITAPROW
Ká Coffee / Nguyen Khac Phuoc Architects
Greater Goods Coffee / Michael Hsu Office of Architecture
This article is part of an ArchDaily series that explores features of interior architecture, from our own database of projects. Every month, we will highlight how architects and designers are utilizing new elements, new characteristics and new signatures in interior spaces around the world. As always, at ArchDaily, we highly appreciate the input of our readers. If you think we should mention specific ideas, please submit your suggestions.
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