While most Starbucks coffee shops follow a template for their architectural style, this Starbucks in Japan features a custom-made design. Architects at Kengo Kuma and Associates set out to form a unique looking cafe for the well-known brand, while maintaining its identity and complementing its surroundings. Located in Fukuoko Prefecture, on the path to one of the most major Shinto shrines in the nation, Dazaifu Tenmagu, the architects sought to combine traditional and contemporary motifs to refrain from disturbing the aesthetic flow of the environment. As such, the shop provides a very natural setting.
Using the extended limbs of trees and ceremonial lumber structures as inspiration, this branch of the chain coffee shop utilizes wood and highlights 6cm stretched square blocks, appearing like bundles of interwoven sticks. The intertwining planks reflect a striking resemblance to a nest, adding to the eco-friendly aura. In addition to the 2,000+ wooden batons that line the establishment's interiors walls and ceiling, the organic ambience is heightened with a strip of planted reeds at the entrance.
Photo credit: Masao Nishikawa
Kengo Kuma and Associates website
via [Dezeen], [ArchDaily]
