Blue Bottle Coffee teamed up with Schemata Architects on a Machiya-style cafe in Kyoto, Japan, located on the way to the Nanzenji temple. The two-floor space is a restoration of a 100-year old Japanese tea house that blends West Coast culture with the charm of the quaint locale.
Many of the townhouse’s defining characteristics were maintained, such as original roof structure and clay walls, while other elements were rebuilt, such as the raised flooring, which was replaced with a pebbled ground that had the same height behind the counter and in the customer area, so that client and staff could maintain equal eye level.
The interior is accented by modern minimalism, as seen in the geometric LED lighting, the sleek counters and benches, as well as the subtle, almost nondescript, branding.
Unlike other coffee chains that can often be spotted from miles away, this tasteful cafe is only marked by a single Blue Bottle logo above its entrance.
Check out the Blue Bottle Coffee Kyoto cafe above and let us know your thoughts in the comments below. For more architecture that fuses past and present, check out Macallan’s astounding $255 million USD distillery.
