21coffees: A Biophilic Café Architecture Blending Nature, Culture, and Community

Project by Julia Wagner & Tadej Podakar

Shortlisted Entry | Brewed 2020

Reimagining the Urban Café Through Biophilic Architecture

In contemporary cities, cafés have evolved beyond places for coffee consumption. They have become social hubs, cultural venues, workplaces, and gathering spaces that connect people with their surroundings. The project 21coffees, designed by Julia Wagner and Tadej Podakar, explores this transformation through an innovative approach to biophilic café architecture, creating a destination where nature, community, and culture seamlessly coexist.

Shortlisted in the Brewed 2020 competition, 21coffees is situated adjacent to the renowned Museum Belvedere 21. The project responds to its unique urban context by transforming a conventional site into an immersive landscape experience that extends the surrounding park into the architecture itself.

The concept behind the project is simple yet powerful: combine a café with a flexible cultural venue while celebrating Vienna's historic coffeehouse tradition through a contemporary architectural language.

A Café Designed as an Extension of the Park

The site occupies a strategic position between a dense urban district and a green public park. Rather than introducing another isolated building into this setting, the architects chose to dissolve the boundary between architecture and landscape.

The most striking feature of the project is its flowing green roof. Rising organically from the ground, the roof becomes a continuation of the park, creating a sculptural topography that visitors can walk across and experience from multiple perspectives.

This gesture transforms what would otherwise be a conventional building into a public landscape. The roof minimizes visual impact while establishing a seamless connection between urban development and nature.

Instead of occupying valuable green space, the project effectively creates more of it. Visitors can traverse the roof, enjoy elevated views, and interact with the building as part of the park experience.

Sustainable Design Rooted in the Landscape

The project demonstrates how sustainable architecture can emerge naturally from site-sensitive design strategies.

By partially embedding the building into the terrain, the architects reduce exposure to extreme temperatures, improving thermal performance and decreasing energy demands for heating and cooling.

The extensive green roof further contributes to environmental performance by:

• Reducing heat gain
• Enhancing biodiversity
• Managing rainwater runoff
• Improving insulation
• Creating additional recreational space

The architecture becomes an ecological intervention rather than an object placed upon the landscape.

The result is a building that actively participates in its environment while providing a welcoming destination for visitors throughout the year.

The Journey from City to Nature

One of the most compelling aspects of 21coffees is the carefully choreographed transition between the urban environment and the natural setting.

Approaching from the city, visitors encounter a subtle rise in the landscape. The flowing roof form gently guides movement toward the entrance while framing views toward the museum and surrounding parkland.

The entrance is strategically positioned where pedestrian circulation paths intersect, ensuring maximum visibility and accessibility.

As guests enter the building, they move through a spatial gradient that gradually replaces the hard surfaces and rigid geometry of the city with organic forms, vegetation, natural light, and warm materials.

This transition creates a memorable experience that begins before visitors even step inside.

A Living Room Within a Garden

The interior of 21coffees has been conceived as a "living room jungle," an inviting environment where architecture and nature merge into a single experience.

Large areas of glazing allow natural light to penetrate deep into the interior while providing continuous visual connections to the surrounding landscape.

Lush vegetation is integrated throughout the seating areas, creating intimate zones that feel both open and sheltered.

The atmosphere is enhanced by:

• Green walls and hanging plants
• Natural materials and textures
• Curved furniture arrangements
• Soft transitions between spaces
• Flexible seating configurations

Together, these elements create a warm and welcoming environment that encourages visitors to linger, socialize, work, or simply enjoy a moment of relaxation.

Reinventing the Viennese Coffeehouse

Vienna's coffeehouse culture is one of the city's most treasured traditions. Historically, coffeehouses functioned as places for conversation, reading, cultural exchange, and social interaction.

21coffees embraces this heritage while reinterpreting it for contemporary urban life.

Traditional elements such as marble tabletops, intimate seating booths, welcoming hospitality, and relaxed social spaces are incorporated into the design. However, these features are paired with modern architectural interventions that reflect changing lifestyles and expectations.

The project demonstrates how historic cultural traditions can remain relevant through thoughtful adaptation rather than imitation.

More Than a Café

The name 21coffees reflects several layers of meaning:

• Located next to Museum Belvedere 21
• Offering more than 21 coffee varieties
• Serving over 21 coffee-based drinks
• Combining two primary functions in one destination

This dual-purpose approach forms the core of the architectural concept.

Beyond serving coffee, the building operates as a flexible venue capable of hosting a wide variety of activities and events.

The architects recognized that contemporary public spaces must be adaptable to changing needs throughout the day and evening.

A Highly Flexible Social Infrastructure

One of the project's most innovative features is its transformable interior.

Through adjustable platforms, movable elements, retractable components, and flexible furnishings, the space can quickly adapt to different uses.

Possible configurations include:

• Traditional café seating
• Small theater performances
• Public lectures
• Stand-up comedy shows
• Classical music concerts
• Dance events
• Community gatherings
• Yoga classes
• Tournaments and recreational activities
• Children's play spaces

The stepped seating area can transform from a café environment into an auditorium or open floor space, allowing the building to support diverse cultural programming.

This flexibility significantly increases the value of the space for the surrounding community.

Accessibility and Inclusive Design

The project prioritizes accessibility through carefully integrated circulation systems.

A lifting platform connects multiple levels, ensuring barrier-free access for all visitors. Service functions, kitchens, storage areas, and support spaces are efficiently organized below ground level to maximize the quality of public spaces above.

Integrated elevators and flexible infrastructure enable smooth operation while maintaining a clean and elegant architectural expression.

This attention to accessibility ensures that the café remains welcoming and inclusive for everyone.

Architecture as Community Catalyst

Perhaps the greatest achievement of 21coffees is its ability to function simultaneously as architecture, landscape, cultural venue, and social infrastructure.

The project demonstrates how a relatively small intervention can generate significant urban impact by creating opportunities for interaction, recreation, and cultural engagement.

Rather than focusing solely on aesthetics, the design addresses broader questions about public life, sustainability, and community building.

By combining a café, event venue, and public landscape within a single fluid architectural form, 21coffees becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for social connection.

As cities continue to search for meaningful public spaces, projects like 21coffees offer valuable lessons for the future.

Through its integration of landscape, sustainability, flexibility, and cultural programming, the project presents an inspiring example of biophilic café architecture. It challenges conventional expectations of what a café can be and demonstrates how architecture can create richer relationships between people, nature, and urban life.

For visitors, it offers much more than coffee. It provides an experience where architecture, culture, and community come together beneath a living green landscape, creating a destination that is both memorable and deeply connected to its surroundings.