-
Architects: One Plus Partnership Limited
- Area: 150 m²
- Year: 2012
-
Photographer:Ajax Law Ling Kit, Virginia Lung, Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Text description provided by the architects. With her possession of water and light, the planet Earth has become the one and only place where life forms grow and live. And the oceans within her are the cradle where life forms like us grow and obtain shelter; it is also the cradle of innovation and imagination for us.
Then the human within the cradle has discovered coffee and created leisure time then gained comfort from this substance, meanwhile the oceans are the existing greater media to contain this kind of comfort. Located in the Shenzhen Bay OCT Harbor Theme Park, the Aix Arome Café is where visitors feel their coexistence with the oceans. The huge egg shaped structure placed within the middle of the space is simultaneously containing both functions of cashier and coffee supply, whereas it is an area that defined by its own beauty. The iconic appearance of the booth is inspired by dark and dull looking coffee bean, surprisingly things like this is the source of pleasure taste in adult manner, thus the gray tone on the booth is the visualization of this amazing taste. On the other hand, the booth also looks like a enormous egg that all the things on the Earth grow from after hatched. It also tells that growing is actually a bitter process, the oceans has always take the role to tell us this. The two big openings on the top-front of both sides of the “big bean” serve as good source of ventilation and natural light, in addition with the pamphlet outlets on its surface, now people know the coexistence of functionalism and beauty at once.
Let say the off white ceiling and columns represent the spacious sky, then the dark gray flooring must be the comfy ocean that visitors want to be in. As fishes like to dwell in coral reefs, the coffee shop has provided people a great number of tables and seating with various organic appearance, such as the long table that seems like bunch of octopuses and bubbles grouping altogether, which presents vibrant mood into the interior. Comfort-seekers who are sipping coffee here has unconsciously become a living organic group here, just like a big piece of coral reef. Moreover, the eye-catching blue and green color scheme applied here has worked as main point of the ocean theme, as well as the signage that draws attention of flowing people. The designers have done an easy yet marvelous job for the design.
Following the same color scheme, the seemingly randomly hanging chandeliers resemble of fishes’ view to the water surface, shiny ripples absorb the cozy sunlight from the wide white sky. Once again, the design has reminded visitors that they are actually enjoying refreshment of coffee with an abstract coral reef. Coexistence of beauty and functionalism has been emphasized in the ocean of mind.
