Design thoughts have been 'Brewed'

Context

Coffee plants grew wild in Ethiopia and were used by nomadic tribes for thousands of years, only until the 1400s when people figured out that they could roast its seeds. By the 1500s, the drink had spread to coffee houses across the Arab world. Coffee houses first appeared in Turkey, Syria, and Egypt as early as 1530. Since they became a hotspot for political discussions, they were banned repeatedly. 

Subsequently, throughout the 1600s coffee houses began popping up across Europe and North America. The French and American Revolutions were said to have been brewed in coffeehouses. 

The coffee house acted as a perfect mid-ground for a meetup. Here, creativity and innovation thrived through conversations. They have long been associated with writers, artists, and intellectuals and represented a safe and comfortable space to share news, discuss philosophy or politics.  

Challenge

A coffee house still holds a similar ideology as it did 4 centuries ago. They act as a mixture of close and open public spaces that are transitioning to give people a platform to gather for conversations or work. It can be said to be a city’s public living room and reflects their traditions in more than one way.

The challenge here was to design a Coffee House, a space that transcends the concept of cafes that we see today.

It aimed to help participants practice micro-planning of spaces & services, translating ideas into the design of volume, furniture, and finishes. It sought to explore a coffeehouse/cafe for Vienna, that embodies today’s architecture style while taking inspiration from its existing heritage. 

How does the idea of something that has been iconic to a city like Vienna for so long, translate into the architecture of today?

The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows: 

Tomoko Sasaki, Architect / Designer, Ten-hachi Architect & Interior Design, Japan

Kevin Lim, Principal, Studio SKLIM, Singapore

Some of the Best of competition projects are:

 

Winning Project: Village Coffee

By: Chris Qiu & Danielle Grabke

     

Description: A modern take on the traditional Coffee House comprising multiple "houses". Each house gives a sense of home, as it invites diverse customers to enjoy a cup of coffee.

-----------------

Runner - Up: The Green Culture

By: Rahul Priyadarshi, Balu Bade, Shubham Gandhi & Dhwani Mehta

Description: The design proposal aims to cater to a neighborhood and take the coffee house design beyond the functional appeal to a community upliftment and social movement. The cafeteria reminds and includes citizens into a more emotional biosphere, brings out an ecological sensitivity and considers the economical constraints of running a coffee house.

-----------------

Honorable Mention: The Funnel

By: Shafik Kamarulzaman & Emil Johan Ismail

Description: A building that extracts the full flavour of life through coffee

--------------------

Honorable Mention: EINSPANNER

By: Seyma Cengiz & Kivanc Cagdas Cengiz

Description: Vienna coffee houses have been an integral part of the city’s social experience since the 1700s. Einspanner aims to continue that unique character of the Viennese Coffee Houses with a contemporary approach by integrating both traditional culture and modern values.

-----------------------

Honorable Mention: BREWED - The Cafe Grind

By: Armin Farshad, Hanna Hassani & Samin Ghasemzadeh

 

Description: In the design process of Cafe Grind, according to our main ideas in the main body of the building and interior spaces, as well as the synchronization of the design process with the Covid-19 crisis, the process of design formation began and with each step forward in this direction, challenges arose for the final confirmation of the result.

-----------------------

People Choice: Rhythmus : Movement in Time

By: Tanishka Khandelwal & Nayanika Chaudhary 

Description: A cafe divided by the diversification of time represented by architectural styles of Vienna to cater to the lifestyle of Viennese people.

-----------------------

Editor’s Choice: MELANGE

By: Manasi Talkar

Description: Exploring the interaction of modern forms and traditional silhouettes, creating a play of volume and exposed structure.

-----------------------

Editor’s Choice: The Flow

By: Irina Bikhina

Description: The place where the flows of times meet, the flows of people interact and the flows of processes intertwined.

-----------------------

Editor’s Choice: THE BREWED WAVE

By: Siddharth Verma & Eshita Jain

Description: The brewed wave is a cafe which acts as a hub of the modern world. This is an iconic building because of its unique facade wave form.

--------------------

Editor’s Choice: Brew Hub

By: Heloise Guo

Description: a cafe that brings new connections

--------------------

Editor’s Choice: Kaffeebühnen

By: Antonia Wern

Description: A stage where coffee is the protagonist and a space in between.

--------------------

Editor’s Choice: The Hub Coffee Bar

By: Trevor Strohm

Description: The Hub is a modern coffee bar in Vienna, Austria. It has been designed to fulfill the role of a traditional coffee house while adding a modern flare. The main purpose of The Hub is to provide a space away from home where members of the community can relax and interact with others.

--------------------

Editor’s Choice: Brewed: Café Design Competition

By: Lala Leung

Description: As an addition to the developing neighbourhood, this café provides a gathering spot for the residences in the area and the tourists visiting the neighbouring Contemporary Museum, designed in a 20th-century modern architecture style with inspirations drawn from traditional Viennese cafés.

--------------------

Editor’s Choice: The Nexus

By: Zhicheng Wang, Qiongsen Jin & Yi Lin

Description: A coffee house aims to encourage social interaction under the age of electronics for the future generation.

---

Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/brewed/info/about

Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/brewed/entries

---

Follow us on social media: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Youtube

 

Discover other design competitions to participate here: https://uni.xyz/competitions