Revival Cafe by Pei-Yu Yen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 Bronze A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design Competition Category.
BronzeInterior· 2020
Revival Cafe
by Pei-Yu Yen
Client: Tetto Creative Design Co.,Ltd.
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Interior Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #103919The Design
About Revival Cafe
Revival cafe is located at Tainan Art Museum, Taiwan. The space it occupied used to be the Tainan Main Police Station during the Japanese colonial period, which is now designated as a city heritage for its historical significance and unique mixture of various architectural styles and elements such as eclecticism and art deco. The cafe inherits the experimental spirit of the heritage, presenting a modern case of how the old and the new can interact with each other harmoniously. Visitors could also enjoy their coffee and begin their own dialogue with the past of the building.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Revival Cafe is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Revival Cafe is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Revival Cafe splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
There are many issues we have to consider while preparing for a design project. To make a good design possible, we have to think about the building, environment, the user’s character, and so forth.
The design of the Revival Cafe, for example, is under the constraints such as the expectation from the art museum and the building’s heritage status. One cannot begin the design without taking these conditions seriously.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
I wanted to bring in a style that cannot be defined, a style that can respect the building’s heritage status and also echo the modernity of the new art museum. I want to use this cafe to demonstrate how a dialogue between the past and the future and also between the East and the West can be possible.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
I will share this news with people who are involved with this project and announce this news to the general public.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- This project is an embodiment of the emerging enthusiasm for heritage reuse. The main building was established in 1931, serving as the Tainan Police Station during the Japanese colonial period. It is now designated as a heritage by Tainan city, and becomes part of Tainan Art Museum.
The cafe is located at the intersection between the old building and the new extension. The cafe therefore exhibits how the past and future can inspire each other. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Curved chairs 1 (6 persons each side): height (cushion included) 50 cm, length 8 m, radius 4 m
Curved chairs 2 (5 persons each side): height (cushion included) 50 cm, length 6.5 m, radius 3.8 m
Curved chairs 3 (3 persons each side): height (cushion included) 50 cm, length 4.5 m, radius 2.5 m
Curved chairs 4 (2 persons each side): height (cushion included) 50 cm, length 3 m, radius 1.5 m - Tags
- Cafe, heritage, eclecticism, museum
- Production Technology
- Due to the regulations of heritage protection, there were a number of challenges during the completion of the project. For example, all of the tables and chairs must be pre-made in the factory before they were installed in the cafe. Another challenge came from the wavy design of the chairs for the cafe and the uneven ground of the building itself – the installation required cautious measurement and adjustment to make sure all of the pieces were in order.
- Design Challenge
- The most challenging part of the project is related to its heritage status. Due to the regulations in Taiwan, all of the main structure of a heritage should not be altered this includes the ceiling, floor, and the wall. Besides, the irregular shape of the space also creates extra challenge to the project.
To overcome these challenges, extensive research on the history of the building and the architectural style during the colonial period was conducting. Eventually, the space becomes a highly flexible commercial space which brings the best out of the buildings singular design. - Research
- The research of the interior design of the cafe mainly focuses on the Japanese architecture style after Meiji revolution, especially the style employed by Japanese architects working in Taiwan during the colonial period.
- Inspiration
- The design is inspired by the talented Japanese architects bold design and experimental spirit. The Tainan Police Station was an interesting attempt of eclecticism, which brought in influence of Art Deco style and local materials in a unique way that was not let any particular architectural style dominate the dialogue.
Echoing the idea of eclecticism and the colonial past, the interior design is featured by curves to connect the whole space and old-fashioned velvet green embellished with bronze gold, presenting a harmonic fusion of the new and the old. - Project Duration
- December 2018, Initial design and planning
March 2019, renovation of the space began
June 2019, formal operation of the cafe
Location: Tainan, Taiwan - Operation Flow
- The space utilised by the cafe used to be a detention centre. Coldness was the very first impression this space gives to its visitor.
To bring in the warmth to transform the chilly past of the space, the design emphasises on enhancing the interaction with the greenery outside of the cafe. - Team Members
- Yen Pei-Yu
- Image Credits
- Main image is Image #1: Photographer Rondo Wei, 2019.
Image #2: Photographer Rondo Wei, 2019.
Image #3: Photographer Rondo Wei, 2019.
Image #4: Photographer Rondo Wei, 2019.
Image #5: Photographer Peggy Yen, 2020.
Sponsored
Explore Beyond Designers.org
Discover products, services and opportunities from our advertising partners.
More to Explore
Related Designs
Explore more award-winning designs from the same category, selected by merit.
