This modern triangle structure with its striped roof is a coffee house in Niihama, Japan. Being relatively small (at least it looks very well-knit), this building is able to host up to 80 people.
Basically, the structure is shaped out of a one-pitch-roof surface, which lifts up directly from the paving level. Amazing, how smartly did the architects utilized this primary shape and put all the necessary rooms into it, so that it became not only functional but also exciting and stylish.
Undoubtedly, their main instrument in the planning of this building was the introduction of the level difference into the building’s interior space. As a result, two separate seat zones and a terrace were created.
The two main elevations are very successful in their simple concept, from both artistic and architecturally sensible points of view. The solid concrete stripes go up along the inclined surface and continue at the opposite, upright facade, forming the lacunae, in which seat terraces are located. This higher elevation is very strict, urbanized and even (stylishly) harsh, whereas the inclined one forms a friendly piece of street landscape and hides the real scale of the building. It is covered with gravel, and the edge, where the building’s plane meets the ground, is blended by the decorative plants and pavement lights.
The project is a great concept for a medium scale, public architecture form, which could be applied to many town squares or avenues, especially to the ones that need some new life to be breathed into them.
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