Scent of a Golden Age Café by Joye Chuang and Celine Liou

Scent of a Golden Age Café by Joye Chuang and Celine Liou is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2021 A' Design Award d'Or in Design d'Intérieur Competition Category.

OrIntérieur· 2021

Scent of a Golden Age Café

by Joye Chuang and Celine Liou

Client: Nong Mu Design Engineering Company

A' Design Award d'Or Winner in Intérieur Category

24,671

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #106894

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Scent of a Golden Age Café

« Scent of a Golden Age » est un café situé dans le quartier de Chihkan, à Tainan. Le projet consiste en la rénovation d'une maison-boutique de deux étages, vieille de soixante ans, et s'étend sur 158,67 mètres carrés. La conception puise son inspiration dans l'ère Showa et dans l'imagerie du bon vieux temps. La structure en acier et le bardage en fer de l'ancienne demeure sont conservés et sublimés. Des menuiseries d'inspiration historiciste soutiennent le toit à deux pentes, percé d'une ouverture ovale évoquant l'entrée d'une résidence japonaise. L'or et les teintes automnales composent la palette principale. Un escalier en colimaçon organise la circulation à proximité du comptoir du bar.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award d'Or

Scent of a Golden Age Café est lauréat de l'A' Design Award d'Or, une reconnaissance immensément prestigieuse décernée à des designs de premier ordre, merveilleux et remarquables. Les lauréats Or sont des créations extrêmement innovantes, visionnaires et d'un éclat glamour éblouissant, qui reflètent le génie, la sagesse et la maîtrise de leurs concepteurs. Scent of a Golden Age Café est censé être une invention très louée, avant-gardiste et monumentale, qui apporte une valeur sans précédent. Ce design lauréat de l'A' Design Award d'Or est un projet spectaculaire et respecté qui sert grandement l'art, la science, le design et la technologie et en repousse les limites. Scent of a Golden Age Café crée de vifs sentiments de désir, éveille la passion, encourage la créativité et nous fascine.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: This renovation of a sixty-year-old two-story shophouse into a modern coffee shop in the Chihkan District of Tainan is the sixth franchise store of OH! Café, whose owner once won World Coffee Roasting Champion (WCRC) in 2014. The design team began with the imagery of the "good old days" and took cues from the Showa era to build a flagship store that is worthy of its brand. The traces of begone days and the smell of coffee together makes the space into a warm one.
Dimensions & Packaging: Total 158.67 square meters.
Tags: Coffee, Renovation, Tainan, Japanese, Gold
Production Technology: The Showa era gold color and colors of the autumn season constitute the main colors scheme of the project. The spiral staircase optimizes the space and anchors the circulation of the area near the bar counter on the first floor. The streamlined curve of the design connects several things into one gesamtkunstwerk: the encircling concrete cylinders, the fifty-year-old handmade paper umbrellas hanging above, the aromas area in the rear cabinet wall, and the corner of the counter.
Design Challenge: The second floor is designed as a mezzanine. To the left is a small Japanese garden with a narrow flagstone path. The millstone fountain suggests the presence of the restrooms. To the right is the raised seating area that looks like a floating pavilion. The scale of Japanese rush mats accommodates both gestures of sitting and lying. Whether or not the curtains are closed, the windows by the streets present an order complex to the old alleyway.
Research: The gold paint on the steps of the staircase invokes a sense of Showa-era. An abstract painting of rough sapphire-like texture occupies the wall that spans both floors as if the smoke of coffee bean roasting rising. Outside the glass window is the light of the old yellow lantern, echoing the bamboo lantern inside. The resonance between inside and outside recalls warm memories of bygone days.
Inspiration: The steel frame and iron cladding of the old house are transformed into a place with a refined essence of time. The revivalist woodwork supports the pitched roof with an oval opening like the entrance of a Japanese residence. The reinterpretation of an old Japanese house through new imagination.
Project Duration: The project started in April 2019 in Tainan and finished in June 2019 in Tainan.
Operation Flow: The service area at the bar counter accommodates advanced coffee machines, bean grinder, and waiters' uniforms. The colors are restricted to a minimum to facilitate the concentration needs for the professional working area, including the rusticated brown of the counter facade, the quartz stone countertop, and other metal components. Both old and new to create the beloved touches of a Japanese house.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Joye Chuang, 2019.
Team Members: Design Director: Joye Chuang
Interior Stylist: Celine Liou
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Sanwen Studio, Scent of a Golden Age, 2019.
Image #2: Photographer Sanwen Studio, Scent of a Golden Age, 2019.
Image #3: Photographer Sanwen Studio, Scent of a Golden Age, 2019.
Image #4: Photographer Sanwen Studio, Scent of a Golden Age, 2019.
Image #5: Photographer Sanwen Studio, Scent of a Golden Age, 2019.

Main image is Image #1, Optional Image #1 is Image #2, Optional Image #2 is Image #3, Optional Image #3 is Image #4, Optional Image #4 is Image #5.