Platinum Interior Space and Exhibition Design · 2025
Arabica Riyadh Roastery Cafe
by Jun Watanabe
- A' Design Award 2025 Platinum Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- CLIENT: no.10, NOMURA Co., Ltd.
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 813,948
- Verification code 5446D026FD · Verify this award
About Arabica Riyadh Roastery Cafe
Arabica Riyadh Roastery is a theater style cafe set in a renovated warehouse of about 885 square meters on two floors. A large custom roasting machine stands on a stage at the back of the store, framed by a bean cellar. The kitchen counter is placed where an orchestra pit would be, and the atrium above lets the sounds of the baristas carry through the space. The floor is lowered in front of the stage, while upper level seats offer views from above. White artificial marble, brick, perforated metal and painted surfaces add texture, and sheer curtains divide the box seats.
No.10's Arabica Riyadh Roastery Cafe exemplifies the contemporary evolution of specialty coffee culture into immersive architectural experience, where the boundaries between production facility, retail environment, and cultural institution deliberately dissolve into unified spatial narrative. The design demonstrates remarkable sophistication in its orchestration of scale, deploying monumental warehouse proportions while maintaining intimate human engagement through carefully calibrated material warmth and the accessible curvature of the central service island. The stacked burlap sacks visible through crystalline glass walls function simultaneously as practical storage, decorative texture, and transparent testimony to sourcing authenticity, inviting contemplation of the journey from distant growing regions to carefully crafted cup. Technical achievement manifests in the seamless integration of complex mechanical systems within minimalist aesthetic restraint, where professional roasting equipment becomes sculptural centerpiece rather than hidden infrastructure. The chromatic strategy demonstrates sophisticated understanding of how restricted palette amplifies the visual significance of remaining elements, allowing the natural tones of coffee materials to command attention within the white spatial envelope like precious objects within museum vitrine. One observes deliberate reference to laboratory or gallery paradigms in the precision lighting and clinical surfaces, suggesting that coffee preparation merits the same reverential attention accorded to scientific research or artistic creation. The design invites viewers to consider how contemporary hospitality spaces increasingly function as temples to craft processes, transforming consumption into participation and customers into witnesses of transformation from raw ingredient to refined experience.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Like a theatre, the floor is lowered in front of the stage, with upper-level seating around it, so that the main stage can be seen from most seats. The store offers a variety of spatial experiences, with varying ceiling heights, including a low, calm seating area and an open atrium. The entrance staircase is designed at a height that allows the stage to be seen from the outside, as in a theatre, to heighten the sense of anticipation and attract customers.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Store area 885 sqm with 2 floors.
Ground floor ceiling height: 2650mm.
First-floor ceiling height: 2450mm.
Atrium ceiling height: 6500mm - Tags
- cafe, coffeeshop, Japanese, Japan, no__10, nomurakougeisha, ARABICA
- Production Technology
- While unified in white, the color of ARABICA’s stores, the space expresses a deep white by providing variations in texture, such as artificial marble, brick, perforated metal, and flat painted surfaces. The floor is made of top-coated epoxy resin to achieve a clean, white, seamless floor. Indirect lighting was added to the ceiling in the atrium through perforated metal to create a top-light-like illumination.
- Design Challenge
- The process of determining the viewpoints of each seating area was difficult. After verifying how the main stage would be presented from each seating area through drawings and renderings, the seating layout and the viewpoint height from each seat were determined. We also controlled the visibility inside and outside the store through the height difference by creating a staircase at the entrance and lowering only the area around the kitchen counter.
- Project Duration
- The project started with a site visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April 2019. The design phase started immediately and was completed in November of the same year. Construction work started in October 2019 and was completed in May 2022. (It took a long time because of the Corona disaster.) The Store opened in May 2022.
- Operation Flow
- Variety of seats are available for various ways of enjoyment. Bench seats where you can watch the barista's performance right in front of you. Box seats on the ground floor where you can see the kitchen and the stage up close. On the first floor, box seats and counter seats are available for a bird's-eye view of the stage and kitchen. Seats for four near the window offers a cozy atmosphere with the sounds of the kitchen as background music.
- Research
- In order to make the cafe comfortable for Saudi Arabian people, we visited various local cafes and restaurants for research. Also, we interviewed franchise owners about the Saudi people and local culture. Based on the information obtained, we installed sheer curtains that take into account the distance between men and women, furniture shapes that make it easy to sit on, even in ethnic dress, and mirrors for personal grooming.
- Inspiration
- The store is a theatre-style cafe in a renovated warehouse of approx. 900 square meters, with a custom-built giant roasting machine as the star attraction. The roasting machine is placed on a stage at the back of the store, surrounded by ARABICA’s iconic bean cellar. A kitchen counter is installed in the position of the orchestra pit, and the atrium above allows the pleasant sound of the barista to echo throughout the store. Visitors can enjoy the story of making coffee with all five senses.
- Patents
- Copyrights: NOMURA Co., Ltd.
Colors of Arabica Riyadh Roastery Cafe
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G0E3 ShopDesign Interview about Arabica Riyadh Roastery Cafe
I start every project by studying its context—brand, location, and era—to create a design that feels truly at home. Each background is unique, and that naturally leads to originality.
The goal was to turn the vast space and oversized custom roaster into a place for a memorable experience. Saudi regulations required separate order counters for men and women, inspiring a layout that lets guests enjoy the roaster and baristas from multiple viewpoints.
No.10 will continue designing %Arabica stores worldwide, each tailored to its location. Including ongoing projects, we have created about one-third of the brand’s stores globally.
Over two months, I explored multiple concepts with the brand owner, from a store floating on water to one resembling a mosque courtyard, always aiming for a space with a special sense of experience.
Through discussions, we defined the core idea: a place to enjoy the process of coffee-making. This vision shaped the plan, along with operational needs and local culture. I coined “Theater-Style” as the concept to capture this essence.
This is an original design for an existing store, with no plans to lease or sell the rights.
As %Arabica’s largest store, it needed to offer something different. The brand always adapts its stores to local character, and here we aimed for a café with unique value that exists nowhere else.
Achille Castiglioni, Isamu Noguchi, and Kenya Hara have deeply influenced my design process through their works and writings.
While popular across all ages, %Arabica especially attracts those in their teens to thirties. In Saudi Arabia, where coffee often replaces alcohol, I hope guests of all ages enjoy it with all five senses.
Other large roastery cafés exist, but few focus so strongly on the sensory experience—watching beans roast, hearing the grinder, smelling the aromas, and enjoying the baristas’ craft.
The store name came from the brand owner. I created the term “Theater-Style Café” to express a multi-sensory journey from bean to cup.
I worked with a laptop, iPad, pen and paper, using Vectorworks, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
The experience changes with each seat—face-to-face with the roaster, at eye level, close to the kitchen, or overlooking from above—thanks to the central atrium and three elevation levels.
Lighting design was by Hiroshi Enami of L.GROW. In an all-white space, light balance is crucial, so we centered it on the roaster and kitchen counter.
I used 3D renderings to refine sightlines from every seat.
Advice from the franchise owner on Saudi lifestyle shaped choices like furniture size, curtain transparency, and mirror placement.
Designing seating to suit local customs took time. I used sheer curtains for privacy, adjusted furniture for traditional attire, and added mirrors for comfort.
High praise for the café led the company to recommend entering the competition. I had long wanted to apply to the A’ Design Award.
This project took time and collaboration, reinforcing for me the value of working closely with others.
We enhanced the experience with many touches—showing the roaster from outside to spark curiosity, opening the view from low ceilings to an atrium, and using height and layout to create a layered sense of space.