128 Comfort Town Coffee Shop / berezen studio
Text description provided by the architects. Café 128 CT (Comfort Town – the name of the residential complex) is the first establishment of a coffee shop chain with the same name, located on the left bank of Kyiv. The total area of the café is about 110 square meters. Before the start of construction work, we dismantled the partition between the two commercial slots and got a rather long facade, enriched with tall windows that let in the warm western sunlight. It suggested decisions about textures and materials. Thus, in this project appeared: ceramic blocks, clinker brick, ceramic sconces used in hot baths, sand plaster, warm-colored plywood, and natural sand-colored linoleum, which was supposed to reduce the echo and preserve the warmth of the space
Materials baked from clay are balanced with the local menu, which includes craft bread made according to a special recipe. And the home atmosphere creates comfort for local residents and serves more as a street living room for gathering neighbors than a simple city restaurant
When expanding the original space, we got several entrances, which were decided to be kept so that customers walking nearby could enter from different sides of the building. But because of this, the length of the path from one of the entrances to the bar itself has increased significantly. We decided to divide this path visually so that it does not seem so long and at the same time to diversify the space itself so that it is more interesting for customers and more adaptable to the wishes and needs of the owners. Thus, the side hall could be closed for closed events and holidays, while the rest of the establishment remained open in the usual format
We were lucky enough to find vintage plywood chairs from IKEA with slotted stripes, which we repeated on the facades of the grilles of the radiators, which also serve as seating and allow us to accommodate a lot more people than with the classic seating only on chairs. Most of the furniture and built-in wardrobes, including a bar table, countertops for washbasins, etc. – are made by local craftsmen from local materials.
