Design Details: Corrugation and Clarity at Rise Coffee in Bangkok

• Project: Rise Coffee
• Location: Bangkok, Thailand (Google Maps link)
• Size: 150 square meters (1,614 square feet)
• Open date: 2021
• Interior Design Studio: Space+craft (Bangkok)
• Roasting lab designer: Chanakarn Assavasirisilp
• Photography: Thanapol Jongsiripipat

Last year, the experimental coffee roasting collaborative Rise Coffee, founded by Kasidis Laoboonmee, opened its flagship store in Bangkok.

Surrounded by offices and high-rise buildings in the Ploenchit district, the 1,614-square-foot Rise Coffee space is divided into two primary zones: a coffee lab geared toward collaboration and exploration, and a coffee bar designed to create approachable specialty coffee connections.

Approachability and simplicity were two overarching concepts guiding the coffee bar design, which was lead by Bangkok-based firm Space+craft.

“It needed to be clean and simple, yet attractive enough to draw people,” the firm said in a project description shared with DCN. “Rise coffee’s aim was to serve coffee to fit city people’s lifestyles, mainly grabbing a cup of coffee before going to work or during break time.”

Thus, the firm opted to place the bar as a unified whole at the center of the space to maximize functionality among coordinated stations, including espresso, a slow bar, point-of-sale, bakery display and dishwashing. Furniture surrounds the bar against clean white walls.

Separated from the roasting area by clear tempered glass, the bar features arrays of corrugated metal panels for texture. A C-line ceiling structure creates a grid-like look, while LED strip lighting combine with spotlights to create both functional and ambient lighting.

The lighting design results in a particularly glowing effect at night, according to the firm.

On seating elements and other surfaces around the space, the firm chose matte white plywood with bright red color accents to enhance the Rise Coffee brand.

Said Space+craft, “Having a cup of coffee and watching coffee process in the lab creates an interesting experience [in] the coffee café, especially in the heart of Bangkok.

Read more from DCN’s ongoing Design Details series here. If you are a coffee shop owner, designer or architect and would like to submit your interior design or package design project for consideration, you can reach our editors here.