This existing space being long and narrow prohibited the installation of a traditional rectangular counter without adversely impacting on (a) valuable customer space or (b) Counter display space. We therefore opted for a full width curved service bar to maximise the service area and customer space simultaneously. Another challenge of the project was how to connect the downstairs coffee shop with the upstairs seating area. Our objective was to achieve a continuous flow from upstairs to downstairs. We wanted your eye to be drawn upwards, dance around the space and thus the idea of a “Roller Coaster Café” was born.
Using only tubular steel and sheet metal, we created all the major elements within the coffee shop and fused them seamlessly together. We worked quite closely with skilled steel manufacturers throughout the design process to achieve this. These steel tubes expanded and contracted depending on the function required of it.
The curved counter wraps around the service space and then fuses seamlessly with the handrail. This meanders lazily upstairs and joins the overhead lighting, which playfully wanders at ceiling level illuminating its journey until it too melts into the elongated curved steel central table below. This table then connects through to the light on the ground floor level, which in turns merges back into the main counter and thus completing its journey around the space.