Coffee & Bread

For the third location of a beloved bakery and coffee shop in Vancouver, &Daughters set out to interpret and evolve the company’s established brand story while also situating the design within the context of the site and base building. Through the division of space and use of materiality a unique narrative is revealed.

Located on the main floor of a podium tower development, substantial concrete columns and slab bands transect the space, dividing it into three distinct zones. Additionally, the trapezoid-shaped unit abuts an interior public lobby and an exterior public pathway, resulting in an open and porous perimeter on three sides. The layout resulted from the most functional use of the zones, situating the back of house space in the enclosed area at the north and the lounge adjacent the public lobby at the south, allowing the cafe to spill into the public commons. In the central zone, a 16’-0’’ x 16’-0’’ coffee bar, conceptualized as the cafe’s beating heart, animates the room and is one of the project’s most unique conditions.

The interior features a material palette that integrates with the base building through the use of large concrete tile and grey stone. These materials reference concrete, while yielding subtle tonal shifts from the columns and slab bands that surround them. Clad in grey stone, the coffee bar is composed of strong rectilinear planes with substantial columnar corners. Each side services a different program for either the customer or the staff. Through the sequence of program and the manipulation of the coffee bar surface, volumes and planes provide passive way-finding for staff and customer activity, including product display, coffee passover, a standing bar, condiment station, seating, espresso station, slow bar, grinding and brewing. The use of custom plated, under-counter espresso machines results in a materially integrated, barrier-free experience between customers and staff.

Warm accents like brass, wood and wheat are layered over harder materials which tell a story of the store’s offering - coffee and bread. Brass is utilized for its presence in the existing locations and to create a cohesive brand experience, albeit in a new way. Waste coffee grounds from the existing locations was collected to treat the metal, through a coffee immersion technique. The coffee grain bath creates a chemical reaction, tarnishing and mottling the brass, thereby tracing upon the new store using by-products from the old locations and a patina that can hold up to heavy use.

Another detail that spatializes the food and beverage offer is the art installation suspended over the coffee bar. Sheaves of wheat are arranged in an 8’-0’’ x 8’-0’’ square, hung upside down to create an inverted wheat field that floats above the baristas and occupants of the bar. The soft, dense mass references the bakery’s primary ingredient, while also providing a functional service by absorbing sound from the otherwise hard and reverberant space. Wood is employed to add warmth and softness to the room through the use of slender, blocky chairs in rich earthy tones, that feature expressed joinery and functional detailing. Constructed of raw cherry wood, the stacking chairs feel hand crafted and through their minimal finishing and creamy tone, express the richness and simplicity of coffee.

Team:
Designers: &Daughters
Photographer: Conrad Brown

Materials used:
278cmx120cm grey porcelain - Master Plan in Plain Cinder - Stone Tile
Solid Surface for the banquettes - Meganite Modern Concrete
Metal fabrication and coffee immersion brass finish - New Format
2cm Tundra Grey Marble - Marble Art
Raw Cherry Chairs - Custom design collaboration with Lock & Mortise
Oak stools - Made by Choice Lonna
Wheat art installation - By Nature
Stainless steel bread display - New Format
Concrete - buffed but left rather rough
Track lights - Liteline Delta
Leather for banquette seats - KB Siena Oyster
Fabric for banquette backrests - Maharam Mode Cottontail