Banana Coffee

Located in a common, crowded and old community full of marketplace atmosphere, Banana Coffee is nearby the core block of Qianjiang New Town, Hangzhou. The designer tried to break the tranquility of the community with strong modelling language and create a dispute against the original marketplace status, which indicates that the industrial revolution has brought a strong impact and great fast forward to the originally quiet human development history.

Covering an area of 60 square meters, the project emphasized the concept of dynamic and static separation and combination, namely, five curved steel plates are inserted into the building in a dynamic manner, and the boundary between indoor and outdoor is blurred. The designer imagined it as the wreckage of a fallen plane, which broke the inherent living condition of the community. In a way of deconstruction and fragmentation, they became the core visual point of the whole design.

The originally complete metal plate was cut into five different shapes after extrusion. Among them, three curved metal plates covered with the storefront signboards of the original building were arranged at the entrance, so as to attract the passersby. The partition on the left of the entrance was transformed into a mirror integrating three circles, which became the clock-in point for every customer and met their online social demands.

With regard to the design of chairs and tables, the designer abandoned the unnecessary overlays of shapes and materials; while accurately controlling the proportion of geometric modeling, the strong sense of power was showed. With the seats and tea tables which can afford a cup of coffee in the outdoor courtyard, customers can pay more attention to products after sitting down. The oval chairs in the hallway form a strong visual conflict with the surrounding stainless-steel texture and luster due to its sound-absorbing cotton texture. The bar counter in the middle was cut transversely, so as to realize the dynamic and static separation and combination. The self-service table sticks to the long table like a black box, emphasizing its existence.