Lumen Coffee 1936

Located on Mashtots Avenue beside the Matenadaran Museum, Lumen Coffee 1936 transforms Yerevan’s oldest surviving interior — a 1930s “Oriental Art Nouveau” design by furniture master Hovhannes Naghashyan — into a café where books, vinyls, coffee and wine coexist. The 73 m² project preserves the handcrafted wooden setting while adding polished stainless-steel furniture and lighting. The contrast of materials and eras highlights continuity through change, keeping the space both contemporary and deeply rooted in cultural memory.

After the closure of the historic “Luys” bookstore, its empty 1930s interior became a public concern. Commissioned to design a café there, we faced the challenge of renewal without erasure. The 36 m² heritage core required thorough restoration before any new intervention could take place. The client, a photographer and close friend, shared our conviction that "doing as little as possible" could be the most meaningful act. Every wooden surface was carefully restored, while new elements were made visibly distinct in polished stainless steel. Our intention was to remain invisible yet not anonymous, placing a contemporary layer within a historic one. The project merges four programmes — reading, listening, coffee and wine — through subtle zoning. The main hall serves as a “pleasure zone,” while the adjoining room functions as a quiet co-working area, creating a delicate balance between preservation, intimacy and everyday use.

The project’s design is based on full reversibility and minimal intervention. All historical elements — wood panels, built-in seats, trims and handles — were restored by local craftsmen using traditional techniques. New components were fabricated from polished stainless steel, chosen for its neutrality, precision and symbolic connection to the present era. The material’s strength allowed us to design thin, floating structures — bar, tables, shelves — which are freestanding and unanchored to walls or floor, ensuring easy removal without damage. Stainless steel was also used to replace missing fittings, subtly marking contemporary presence without imitation. Energy use and embodied material waste were minimised through reusing the existing structure and limiting construction processes. Maintenance is minimal: wood is periodically oiled, steel cleaned with neutral agents. This light-touch strategy preserves the historic integrity while ensuring long-term adaptability and sustainability.