Location: Chengdu
Design / Construction: 2017
Constrution Area: 195 sqm
Design Team: Li Han / Zhang Xintong / Hu Yan
Photography: Wang Hongyue / Lu Wenhui

Taking a space on the ground floor of Chengdu Yintai Center, GREYBOX COFFEE Chengdu is the chain brand's first store in the south-west China and specializes in premium specialty coffee. In the design for GREYBOX COFFEE Chengdu, Drawing Architecture Studio (DAS) seeks responses to the brand's philosophy and spirit of specialty coffee from the study of atmosphere, color, and space.  GREYBOX COFFEE Chengdu is all lit up in order to place the guests in a charming brightness so they can clearly observe everything about specialty coffee. Used as the key material for GREYBOX COFFEE Chengdu, galvanised steel sheet works as a perfect medium to interpret a vivid grey. The sheet will have a dim reflection on the surrounding environment, so various colors will be seen on the sheet as the lights, viewpoints, and movements of people change. When people walk around in the space, they can notice the color changes over the surface of the sheet, while in general they still see a tonality of cold grey. The process of making specialty coffee is quite spectacular and full of ritual, which inspired DAS with a concept of "stage and stand" for the space design of GREYBOX COFFEE Chengdu. The café is divided into two curved spaces, inner and outer. The inner curve is the stage, shaped by lowered ceilings and bar counters covered with galvanised steel sheets running lengthwise throughout the space. Against the dark grey wall behind the bar counter, exquisite professional tools, skillful maneuver of the baristas, and transformation of coffee from beans to brew, have all become an exciting performance on this continuous and see-through "stage". Here the spatial scale is for the upper part of the body. The outer curve is the stand. Remained in their original 4m height, the columns are transformed into metal boxes as shelves, corridors, and entrances, creating an order and rhythm for the space and shaping seating areas with different sizes as to provide flexible experience space for the guests who come to enjoy specialty coffee.