Blue Bottle Coffee Kobe Café / Jo Nagasaka + Schemata Architects

Architects: Jo Nagasaka + Schemata Architects
Location: 1 Maemachi Chuo-ku Hyogo Japan
Project Team: Masami Nakata
Area: 214.1 m2
Project Year: 2018
Photographs: Takumi Ota

Construction: TANK, Atelier Loöwe INC.
Collaboration: BOOTLEG (sign); HOSHIZAKI TOKYO CO.,LTD (kitchen); WHITELIGHT.Ltd (sound plan); Endo Lighting (lighting plan)

Text description provided by the architects. Blue Bottle Coffee’s first cafe in Kobe is situated in the former foreign settlement.

The settlement was built for foreigners in 1868 when Japan opened the port of Kobe to foreign countries. Many old western-style buildings still exist and there is a distinct exotic atmosphere in this area. Daimaru Department Store Kobe is located at the entrance to the foreign settlement. High fashion brand stores line up on the ground floor and upper floors are occupied by Kobe’s top companies.

This building is not an old western-style building, but it is designed to look like one. Blue Bottle Coffee Kobe Cafe is located at a high-ceiling and ample store space on the ground floor, sandwiched between high fashion brand stores.

Our design aimed to maximize the sense of spaciousness by building a simple island-style structure where cafe functions are concentrated. We aimed to counterbalance the exotic atmosphere of the area with a simple yet distinctive element