LAPH cafe

Nguyen Dang Hieu

• Architects

“Café-Cóc” – in Vietnamese, this term refers to a budget-friendly coffee shop with low seating that can be easily folded and set up as needed. It's a place where people can quickly and conveniently drop by, order a drink, sip alone or with friends, and then go about their day.

photo_credit Nguyen Dang Hieu — Nguyen Dang Hieu

This particular coffee shop is renovated from the two lower floors of an existing house, located on a quiet street next to a beautiful school with a history of nearly 130 years. We aimed to design a coffee shop in the humble style of a “Café-Cóc,” combined with an interior that exudes a classic and luxurious vibe, creating a unique blend suitable for a diverse range of customers.

Level 1 and the façade are designed in the “Café-Cóc” style, featuring various levels of seating, ensuring everyone has a view of the street and the school ahead. The seating consists of low tables and chairs, complemented by raw wooden walls and a beige color scheme, fostering a friendly and comfortable atmosphere. In the front seating area, we placed three large trees, SUSPENDED IN THE AIR. This concept creates a hanging garden for the lower floor and provides shade for the upper floor while saving space. To suspend such large trees, we first designed the second-floor balcony with a steel structure. The columns consist of four V-shaped steel bars welded directly to I-beams, all encased in wood. The floor is constructed with a dense network of steel boxes, and the wooden planting frames are hung directly on this floor framework. The irrigation drainage system flows through the bottom of the planting beds, runs along small pipes beside the steel beams, and then down to the ground. The bar counter uses the same material as the floor, combined with a seamless effect on the counter legs for continuity.

In contrast to the free, somewhat bustling atmosphere below, Level 2 is designed as a library, offering a warm, quiet, and enclosed space. However, it still features many windows – a sophisticated blend of classical and modern design – that open up to the large green trees outside. The second-floor balcony is still in use, but most guests prefer to sit inside, looking out at the trees rising from below, treating the balcony area like a pavilion. This is an example of how architecture shapes behavior in ways we couldn’t have fully anticipated during the design process.