Cafe House

The site is located next to a crossroad. The perimeter of the street is therefore being recreated while maintaining the front line of the houses uncut. The new café house fits well the location by its function as it is in a historically relevant area and right next to the town plaza where the flow of tourists is quite common. However the main aim was to tie a new design with the current situation while respecting the scale, materials and details of the surroundings. The cladding was set after noticing characteristic recurrence of the materials in street elevation by the sequence: red bricks – wood – plaster / plaster – wood – red bricks. Considering this coincidental yet logical chain red brick was the choice that fills the gap of perimeter. At the same time this choice responds to the neo-Gothic Church of Apostle Evangelist St. Matthew.

As time passed, some changes occurred (boundary of the site was changed, street and sidewalk were formed, etc.). As a result, complete renovation of the previous occupation boundaries on plot is hardly possible. The earlier demolished house was used as a seed for interpretation to simultaneously address the cultural heritage, client’s purpose and infrastructure goals in the new design. Keeping adequate scale, height and orientation of the building, also evaluating composition principles of the old town architecture and taking into account the details – it properly answers the heritage. Whereas the request for more natural light indoors and wider views is met by architectural manipulation that actually enriches the building. Long rows of windows in the upper floor are partly covered with open brick pattern panels which maintain rhythm of the openings relevant to the surroundings. The part of the site located between adjacent houses is used for a modest and cozy outside terrace as construction is not permitted in this area due to regulations.

As the site is very small it requires rational space saving solutions. To gain valuable space, the materials with particularly good thermal characteristics was used. Expanded clay lightweight blocks as external load-bearing walls and polyurethane as thermal insulation helped to reduce the thickness of external walls while A class of energy efficiency was the purpose. Steel constructions was used for the leading elements of the building – corner cantilever and open brick pattern panels. The cantilever marks the entrance and covers it, so there’s no need for additional shelter, also it points towards the church – the dominant element of town’s landscape. The open brick pattern panels (fixed to reveal) also have several functions: first, it mask the excess of upper floor windows to match the old town environment; second, it partly shield the room from hot summer sun in the evening at the same time creating an amusing moving pattern of shadows indoors that enriches the interior; third, when the indoor light flows through the bricks at night, it highlights the pattern and so no additional artificial exterior lighting is needed.