tailor WEY applies cool metallic surfaces to futuristic coffee lab in shanghai

tailor WEY fuses fashion and coffee culture for this new café at the entrance of TX huaihai shopping mall in shanghai. with cool metallic surfaces and a functional, flowing space, ‘innerfact café’ is not just a coffee stop, but also a chic meeting place for locals. 

images by yunpu cai (unless otherwise stated)

the new café is in fact inserted into innersect’s flagship clothing store. to attract customers from both directions, tailor WEY has positioned the coffee bar in the most prominent location between the retail space and the main entrance of the mall. here, the curved bar divides the whole space into two functional areas of fashion and coffee.

a fashionable café with a futuristic aesthetic

coffee is brewed on a leaf-shaped bar, which connects to metal shelving. as well as coffee, this bar also serves other customized drinks, desserts, and light meals. to cater to different personalities, tailor WEY has created a variety of seating for customers. people can sit against the shelves facing towards the bar, or choose the stepped seating shaped like a concrete ribbon, or even take the seats with the transparent backs fixed at the platform. moreover, customers can step into the triangular dining space and sit down with some limited edition toys.

a round island-style bar in a leaf shape connects to metal shelves

on the wall of the triangular space, nearly 700 aluminum coffee cans were fixed, with each can painted in silver and yellow. close to the coffee can wall, there is an independent entrance that opens out to an outdoor terrace via glass sliding doors powered by electricity and one steel pivot door. this door installation can be adjusted to three different modes: open and closed, half open, and fully open, so as to meet the demands of different occasions.

different seating to suit different customers

to maintain a unified interior with the clothes retail space, the whole café uses metallic materials with silver luster as the basic design language. a large number of metal materials have been used, such as stainless steel plate, anodized aluminum panel and corrugated iron board. set against the concrete floor and black ceiling, the coffee shop presents an overall cool, futuristic atmosphere.

triangular dining space

cool metal surfaces adorn the space

this part of the wall is made up of 700 aluminum coffee cans

detail of the silver and yellow-painted coffee cans

the coffee shop is like a science laboratory

sliding doors and one pivoting door connects to the outdoor terrace

circulation study

image © tailor WEY

floor plan

image © tailor WEY

axonometric

image © tailor WEY

project info:

project name: innerfact café

location: TX mall, no.523 huaihai rd, shanghai, china

client: innerfact café

architect: tailor WEY

design team: ginny wey, weeley hwang, wei lu

lighting consultant: patti lee

general contractor: shanghai chongyue

exhibition consultant: jiangsu houlang

completion: august 2020

area: 1,184 ft2 (110 m2)

photography: yunpu cai

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