Archello Awards 2023 has revealed its winning projects. For each of the 27 categories, one project was awarded by jury vote, and one project was awarded by public vote. As the overall Interior of the Year award winner, the jury has selected Kali Coffee designed by Concéntrico for a shop in the studio's hometown of Nuevo León, northern Mexico.
Kali Coffee Roasters is a coffee production company which grows its beans in rural Chiapas, a mountainous Mexican state that borders Guatemala. When designing a shop for the company the architects drew from residential building techniques regional to Chiapas, where the ceilings of homes are often clad in handmade clay tiles to protect from the rain. The residential reference is not one of happenstance: 'Kali' means 'home' in the native language of Nahuatl.
Concéntrico employed the use of clay tiles as part of the design for the interior walls of the Kali Coffee project. Tiles are hung just behind the glass facade, making them clearly visible from both the interior and exterior of the shop. The clay lattices filter incoming and outgoing light, create a privacy screen and offer a rich texture for the shop space. According to the architects, the tile curvature and material properties of the clay both help to absorb and deflect sound waves as an acoustical measure within the space. Sunlight and artificial lighting alike give the tiles depth that liken their shape and color to that of coffee beans.
The space is open and industrial, yet given warmth by the clay tile screens and tiled floors, paired with the use of walnut wood used at the base of the bar and booths. Wooden furniture and woven light fixtures were custom-designed for the project through a rigorous process of material and textile selection as well as a study of local design.
The Interior of the Year is the top-ranking Archello Award honoring the best overall building interior completed in the last year. "Thanks Archello for giving us a platform to share the story behind Kali Coffee Roasters, its traditions and Mexico's coffee culture," says Alejandro Peña, Concéntrico's Director.
Read more about the project on Archello here.
