Press Release
Cad Coffee Cafes by Yi Zhou Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Yi Zhou for interior space and exhibition design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 19, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Cad Coffee Cafes by Yi Zhou, designed for Dayi Design, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Interior Space and Exhibition Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Cad Coffee Cafes
Cad Coffee is a cafe interior set within a former cement factory beside a city park in Jiangsu, China. The original reinforced concrete shell and frame were retained, with partial steel reinforcement. Large floor-to-ceiling glass panels bring daylight inside and open the rooms to the parkland. Functional zones are arranged around a central coffee bar and include tiered seating, wooden counters, textile upholstery and multi-functional partitions. Reclaimed wood and coarse fabrics were sourced locally. The space covers 1000 square meters.
About Yi Zhou
Zhou Yi is an experienced designer who graduated from Nanjing University. She is a member of the Architectural Society of China, a council member of the Wuxi Interior Design Association, and a visiting professor in the Art Department of Jiangyin College. Grounding her practice in local culture, she honors traditional heritage while embracing forward-thinking perspectives, approaching her work with an exploratory mindset focused on the interactions between people and objects, as well as among individuals themselves.
Award Record
Yi Zhou is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
About the A' Interior Space, Retail and Exhibition Design Award
The A' Interior Design Award is an international interior design competition recognizing good interior designs by interior designers and architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to interior designers, interior architects, architects and decorators from all countries. Typical entries include residential interiors, restaurants, hotels, offices, galleries and retail stores. The awarded interior designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/interior
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/174342
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/174342
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!174342
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/370222
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Cad Coffee Cafes
- Function
- Cafes
- Category
- Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Black, Saddle Brown, Dim Gray, Dark Gray and Peru
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Dayi Design
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Yi Zhou
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #174342
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer Cong Lin, Cad Coffee, 2024.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This design revitalizes a former cement factory adjacent to a city park into an open, layered coffee space. Retaining the building's raw structural form and historical traces, the renovation introduces expansive glazing, natural lighting, and modular zoning. Functional areas extend around a central coffee bar, meeting diverse social and individual needs. The result is a fluid, quiet retreat that harmonizes industrial memory with organic textures and urban leisure.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the emotional fatigue of modern life, the design reinterprets the act of drinking coffee as a pause from relentless urban rhythms. Drawing on the symbolism of ruins, wilderness, and fragmented time, the space merges a disused industrial shell with lush parkland. The aim is not nostalgia, but to plant a quiet unfamiliar moment a detour in life's fast-moving track where visitors reclaim presence through light, nature, and texture.
- Research
- This spatial research explores how adaptive reuse and minimalist renovation can provide emotional refuge within urban settings. Using qualitative site observation, user interviews, and behavior mapping, the study evaluated the impact of spatial openness, daylight, and material tactility on visitor well being. Insights informed design decisions promoting detachment from daily stress. The result: a model of micro-escape architecture balancing emotional need with urban reuse.
- Challenge
- The greatest challenge was balancing preservation with intervention honoring the cement factory's raw essence while introducing comfort and adaptability. Regulatory constraints, structural aging, and limited mechanical systems posed technical hurdles. Externally, expectations of renovation equals polish were resisted. The team redefined value as emotional atmosphere over perfection, transforming ruins into a warm, contextual, and shared emotional terrain.
- Realization and Technology
- The project employed minimal intervention principles, retaining the original concrete shell and frame. Locally sourced materials such as reclaimed wood and coarse fabrics were prioritized to reduce carbon footprint. Large glass panels and French windows were retrofitted to engage the outdoors, while natural light strategies replaced artificial lighting. Restoration over remodeling guided the process, preserving both structural integrity and aged textures.
- Operation and Interaction
- The space invites users into a seamless transition from city park to cafe, with natural light guiding circulation. Centralized around the coffee counter, zones for group gatherings, solo reading, or business interaction unfold intuitively. Elevated seating introduces spatial rhythm, while outdoor garden terraces blur boundaries with the landscape. The space adapts to individual paces whether lingering alone or casually socializing within an open, sensory rich environment.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in February 2024 in Jiangsu, China and finished in June 2024.
- Specifications
- The space spans a total of 1000 square meters. Its structural shell uses reinforced concrete, with partial steel frame reinforcement. For fenestration, it features custom French floor-to-ceiling glass panels. Inside, the layout includes tiered seating, integrated wooden counters, textile upholstery, and multi-functional partitions. Natural finishes dominate, paired with curated greenery and art to add spatial layering. Passive ventilation and strategic solar exposure optimize indoor comfort and lighting balance throughout the day.
- Keywords
- Interior Design, Adaptive Reuse, Coffee Space, Industrial Renovation, Nature Integration, Minimal Intervention, Spatial Layering, Daylight Design, Cement Factory Conversion, Emotional Design
