COFFEE MACHINE RED | CONCEPT | RUSSIA | 93 SQ. M
This project started with a dialogue. The owners of a Coffee Machine cafe chain were thinking of potential places for opening a new cafe and were wondering what format it could be in. In the beginning, they asked us to conduct a study and come up with a design solution. This was our third collaboration with this company. Our first project was a small drive-through cafe, then we designed their flagship coffee shop, which was opened downtown.
In this project, we wanted to take a fresh look at the communication with the cafe visitors and create a new format of interaction with them. As a result, we took all features of the premises into account and created this concept within the framework of the existing company branding.
Work began with the development of a planning solution. We’ve created several design options, and the customer chose one which allowed the cafe to comfortably accommodate the maximum number of visitors. And so, we decided to make several types of dining zones there.
In this project, we visualized how a large cafe network can build up a new format of food and drink venues. While implementing our previous projects, we laid the foundations of the company's interior brand book. Also, there was a desire to explore what a project with a focus on a younger audience could be - this place is located in the center of a bedroom district which houses lots of students. As a result of the joint analysis, we concluded that it is best to create a cafe in the "fast food" format.
We wanted to make a fairly minimalistic interior, both in terms of architectural solutions and color. This idea was implemented through the use of extremely saturated red color and straight architectural forms. Together, this helped create a visually impressive interior. White glossy tiles with contrasting seams were used as the main finishing material, which further stressed its geometric style. This design technique was used to create a small area in this company’s previous cafe. Visitors were constantly taking pictures against that background and posting photos on social networks, so we decided to use this technique here too, adding scale to it.
The project turned out to be bright, while the minimum amount of decorations was used. The only decorative thing there is mesh ceiling structures. Everything else is functional. Red plexiglass partition walls divide the dining zone into sections for comfortable accommodation of visitors. The translucency of these walls allows the visitors to see which of the seats are already taken and which are empty. Vertical metal pipes mounted to the ceiling are in fact lights that illuminate tables. The color contrast between the white and red dining zones helps to visually expand the space.
In this project, it was important to make the cafe scalable, so that it was possible to open similar cafes in other cities within limited periods and with minimal resources. Therefore, it was necessary to offer low-budget design solutions. The project uses many objects that are produced in series, which helps to quickly purchase them if necessary to open new cafes. The ceiling lighting modules and mesh structures are designed as simple as possible, so they could be produced quickly. The decoration of the partitions uses budgetary white tiles, the floor is covered by inexpensive Russian-made porcelain tiles. The design of the counter in the checkout area was inspired by a fragment of the facade of the building in which this room is located. This is also a fairly budgetary trick in terms of implementation — a simple painted brick laid unusually.
In the bathroom zone, we also chose budgetary minimalistic solutions. Besides, the utilities needed to endure the large flow of visitors that would pass through this zone. Therefore, we selected metal elements with increased wear resistance.
We managed to create not just beautiful pictures, but the solution to an interesting business problem — to develop a new format of food and drink venues within the existing visual language. In this project, all design solutions are budgetary and simple. We helped a large company to understand how it can evolve in a new direction.