BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE PIEDMONT AVE. Oakland, CA

How do you show proper respect to a 100 year-old, Julia Morgan-designed building? In the case of this cafe project, the solution was to both defer to and contrast with the existing structure.

The new elements are treated as an insertion into the original space, leaving the brick walls exposed and highlighting the division between old and new with a strip of concealed LED lights.

Some of the new materials, including concrete floor tiles and painted metal wall and cabinet door panels, are subtle, almost featureless in their character, to defer to the strength of the red brick. The service bars and customer seating and tables take the opposite approach, with crystalline marble and bleached ash, providing a rich material quality where customers interact with the space.