Love in the time of Coffee

How does a global idea of a café translate into a regionally communicating vocabulary of Bali in the context of today?

We answer this question through a design combing coffee space and romantic space related with love.

Coffee, as a plant which can be made into drinks, has gone through centuries of development. In the past, cafe houses’ function was simply selling coffee drinks and providing a space for people of different professions and backgrounds to work and communicate. Nowadays, with the development of the times, more and more cross-border coffee houses appeared in the market. Today's coffee houses integrate many other functions, such as retail, pets, bookstores, clothing stores, exhibitions, and even art design studios. But what has existed since ancient times and still hasn’t changed is the essence of coffee house, which is the communication and collision of culture and background.

Bali is a tropical island in Indonesia where people can walk on beautiful beaches, bathe in warm sea water, walk into fresh and natural tropical rain forests, enjoy trees and flowers everywhere, and also experience surfing, diving, skydiving, mountaineering and other sports. Because of these picturesque scenery, diverse and interesting activities, Bali has become a world-famous tourist destination full of romance. Every year, thousands of people choose to come to Bali for leisure holidays or sweet honeymoon, for taking their own wedding photos on the island to freeze the moments in the present beautiful scenery, and countless people experienced a romantic encounter and started a new chapter of their lives while travelling on the island. So, when a Cafe and the Bali meet, it could be a great place for people to embrace the communication of inner spirit, finding the true soulmate, for lovers to taste the bitterness and sweetness of romance and coffee together.

Basically, the process of love and marriage is the cultural communication and integration of two people or even two families. So, in this design, the concept of marriage and love is integrated into coffee society, so that people from different backgrounds can complete the process from acquaintance to marriage in this cafe.

The architectural form consists of two parts where the edges of them are separated and can also fit each other, just like two suitable people, who are both two independent individuals and can perfectly combine into a complete whole.

On the first floor of the cafe, different spatial atmosphere represents three different life stages. The first is the single stage before meeting the right person. People can sit alone in separate seats enjoying their quiet time alone with coffee. The next stage is encounter, which also integrates the function of blind dates. They can choose to be introduced by intermediaries if necessary. It’s divided into separate spaces by partitions, and the height of the partition can provide some privacy without being too private to make the unfamiliar people feel awkward and tense. Each individual booth has different items for two people who have similar interests, they can do a lot of activities while drinking coffee, such as Lego, jigsaw puzzles, movies, books, and also can experience DIY their own unique coffees. What’s more, multi-person social activities and board games space is in the outdoor yard. The third is the exclusive dating area for lovers who have already fallen in love. In this area, each booth has a continuous circle of soft seats around the table. Lovers can snuggle up to each other and enjoy a sweet time.

The second floor of the cafe is a wedding dress shop, where the wedding dress can be bought or leased, with exquisite jewelry display cabinets and make-up area. Lovers can find their own wedding suits, wear beautiful jewelries, and put on delicate make-up to make themselves the most beautiful bride and handsome groom for each other. At the same time, there also provides rest space, customers can taste coffee and talk over with the staffs.

The third floor is wedding photography shop with an indoor studio, and the roof is outdoor shooting area. Their love can be frozen in the most beautiful scenery, whether artificial props background or natural scenery. Next to the rest waiting area is a photo exhibition wall that shows photographers' works, people can enjoy the coffee with the happiness of others and looking forward to their own wedding photo.

In addition, children, people who don't have the will to fall in love temporary, and family trips that have already gone through all these stages can choose a separate space on the first floor and partial roof on the second floor. They can simply just have coffee and enjoy the scenery there.

This cafe house has its own characteristics, but still welcomes all kinds of people, no matter background, culture, and the state of life. Everyone can find a space and a cup of coffee here that just belongs to them.