Urban Café — Croatia

Establishing a strong visual relationship with the city, this café was designed to create a calm, welcoming atmosphere through a plain architectural language and a warm material palette.

Full-height glazing reduces the boundary between inside and outside as far as possible and lets daylight reach the whole of the room. Light-toned floors, natural timber furniture and neutral surfaces are balanced by black steel detail, producing a spatial identity that is plain but not characterless.

The long service counter at the centre was treated as the focus of both the functional flow and the design. Warm linear lighting beneath the counter, together with minimal track spots and spherical pendants above, creates a soft light that shifts through the day.

The seating provides for different scenarios, from a short coffee to a long meeting. Planting adds a natural layer to the minimal interior, giving the room a calmer, more liveable feel within its urban setting.

The overall approach was to create a timeless, warm and contemporary café stripped of unnecessary detail.