Rhythmus: A Vienna Café Split Between Baroque Lingering and the Modernist Morning Rush

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This article covers topics related to Interior Design, Furniture Design. A People's Choice entry for Brewed 2020 that splits a compact Vienna café into two zones: one for slow Baroque lingering, one for the Modernist rush.

A People's Choice entry for Brewed 2020 that splits a compact Vienna café into two zones: one for slow Baroque lingering, one for the Modernist rush.

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Not every coffee drinker in Vienna wants the same café. Some arrive with a book and no plans to leave. Others need an espresso in hand before the next train. Rhythmus: Movement in Time treats that difference as the brief itself. Rather than averaging the two needs into one room, it gives each a space of its own and borrows a separate architectural language for each: Baroque richness for those who stay, Modernist clarity for those passing through.

Designed by Tanishka Khandelwal and Nayanika Chaudhary, the project received a People's Choice Award in Brewed 2020. It sits on a compact, elongated plot in a well-connected Vienna neighbourhood, close to museums, hotels, universities, homes, parks, railway stations and major transport routes. The designers' site analysis found a very mixed crowd of students, professionals, elderly residents, commuters, tourists and families. That mix became the central driver of the concept. The cafés of Vienna have long worked as extensions of the living room, and this proposal asks how one building can serve all of those living rooms at once.

Two Linked Volumes on an Elongated Plot

Corner view of the two-storey glass pavilion with a wide sloping roof, black columns, a balcony railing and a lawn with bicycles under a pale sky

Exploded axonometric drawing separating roof, hanging light grid, columns, railing, upper gathering space, staircase and ground floor spaces above the finished

The corner view shows the strategy at urban scale: a two-storey glass pavilion under a wide sloping roof, held up by black columns, with a balcony railing marking the upper level and bicycles parked on the lawn. The long, narrow site pushed the designers to split the mass into two connected volumes. A vertical separation lets the building hold several functions while staying open, and the large glazed facades keep the interior on show to the street. For a café that wants to be part of daily urban life rather than a destination, that transparency does real work. It turns passersby into potential customers.

The exploded axonometric explains the building as a stack of clear layers: roof, a hanging light grid, columns, railing, an upper gathering space, the staircase and the ground-floor rooms. Read this way, the project's balance of solid and void, and of intimate and communal space, becomes legible. The light grid deserves attention. Suspended as its own layer, it becomes one of the main tools for giving each zone its atmosphere, a point the interiors confirm.

Hedge, Arch and Brass: Arriving in the Baroque Zone

Entrance corner with arched black mullions on glass, a clipped green hedge wall and brass pendant lights over stepping-stone paving in sunlight

Interior of the blue paneled hall with a marble counter, cream armchairs and rows of blue and brass pendant lights, with sunlight across the wall

The designers call the first zone "Full of Moment," and the entrance sets that slower pace before anyone orders. Arched black mullions break up the glass, a clipped green hedge wall shields the corner, and brass pendants hang over stepping-stone paving. The arch is the clearest Baroque reference here. It does not copy historic ornament; it borrows the curve to soften a frame that is otherwise modern and thin.

Inside, the blue panelled hall carries the idea further. A marble counter, cream armchairs and rows of blue and brass pendants create a room meant for long conversations and unhurried reading, where coffee is an experience rather than a quick purchase. Sunlight raking across the panelled wall adds the depth and shadow that Baroque interiors relied on. Here the hanging light grid from the axonometric earns its place, setting a lower, warmer ceiling that invites people to sit down.

The Counter as the Hinge Between Two Tempos

Front elevation of the building with its slanted roof, tall glazed bay and hedge wall, framed by trees and bicycle racks on the lawn

View from behind the coffee counter, with a barista at the machine, looking through arched glazing to a courtyard of wooden tables and string lights

The front elevation shows the building's quieter Modernist side: a slanted roof, a tall glazed bay and the hedge wall, framed by trees and bicycle racks. The "Morning Rush" zone serves commuters, students and professionals whose routines depend on speed and convenience. Its language is efficiency and clarity, which suits a frontage where people need to see quickly where to go and how to leave.

The view from behind the counter may be the most telling image in the set. A barista works the machine while arched glazing frames a courtyard of wooden tables under string lights. From this one spot the operational core of the café meets both experiences. The counter becomes the hinge where the fast and slow users pass each other. That idea lies at the heart of the project's claim that its quick-service zone stays tied to the social life of the café rather than cut off from it.

Herringbone Floors and a Floating Stair to the Terrace

Rendered café interior with arched black-framed glazing, herringbone timber floor and grey barrel chairs beneath hanging pendant lights in daylight

Rendered covered terrace with a floating timber-tread staircase, wavy balusters, string lights and grass strips between paving, a person and dog nearby

The second interior shows the gradual transition the designers describe between the two identities. Arched black-framed glazing returns, now paired with a herringbone timber floor and grey barrel chairs under hanging pendants. The palette is cooler and more restrained than the blue hall, yet the arches tie it back to the Baroque side. The two zones read as relatives rather than strangers, which is harder to achieve than a simple contrast.

The covered terrace carries the scheme outdoors. A floating staircase with timber treads and wavy balusters leads to the upper gathering space, while grass strips run between the paving and string lights hang overhead. The wavy balusters are a small, smart move: an ornamental gesture made with a modern, lightweight element. With a person and dog passing nearby, the render shows a space that works as much for the neighbourhood as for paying customers.

Why This Project Matters

Most café proposals pick one mood and commit to it. Rhythmus admits that a single urban café serves people moving at very different speeds, and it builds that difference into plan, section and material. Using Baroque and Modernist principles as tools for these two tempos, rather than as stylistic decoration, gives the scheme a clear logic. Each zone gets the architecture that suits how long its users plan to stay.

The project's real strength is in the connections: the shared counter, the visual link between volumes, the recurring arch and the glazed facades that keep everything open to the street. Those choices stop the split from becoming segregation. For a city whose coffee houses have shaped its social life for generations, that is a fitting proposal: a café that holds the morning rush and the long afternoon under one sloping roof.