The Serpentine Coffee House, which Mizzi Studio has created alongside the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park, London, is topped with a roof designed to look like a stingray.
Mizzi Studio designed the cafe to be a small landmark structure between the Serpentine Gallery‘s two locations on the main street that passes through Hyde Park.
It takes its form from both Japanese tea houses and the Serpentine lake, which it stands alongside.
“It is a biomorphic design as everything we do is inspired by natural processes,” said Jonathan Mizzi, founder of Mizzi Studio.
“It’s made to look natural, which is what we believe all architecture should be. Its an extension to the lake, a creature that has leap out of the lake – a smiling stingray that flies from the lake,” he told Dezeen.
The single-storey coffee shop has glass walls and is topped with a brass-coloured undulating canopy.
“At the centre is a classic dome that morphs into the eaves and together they create a smiling mouth,” continued Mizzi.
“The colour of the brass canopy is effective as it is an earthy material that is also regal, which fits the location in a royal park.”
Mizzi Studio worked with engineers Arup and manufacturer MouldCAM to create the fully watertight roof, which has a structural skin constructed from a reinforced carbon and glass fibre.
This structure is supported on a steel frame with two columns, which according to the architect look like teeth, supporting a canopy over the cafe’s front entrance.
Within the coffee shop the visible underside of the brass-coloured roof has been designed to evoke feelings of being under a stingray or a whale’s mouth.
“As you walk in you are enveloped in the mouth of a whale,” added Mizzi. “This cafe shows that using a simple concept to create a complex form means experimental architecture is doable.”
The cafe has a walnut timber-fronted counter that stretches along the back wall, which is covered with dark blue tiles.
In front of the counter is a small seating area complete with Perlino Rosato marble-topped tables and leather-upholstered chairs. Alongside the kiosk is an outdoor seating area.
The small cafe is one of ten sites being designed by Mizzi Studio for the Colicci coffee shop chain within London’s Royal Parks.
One kiosk has already been completed within the park, while another on the other bank of the Serpentine lake is set to be built this month.
The coffee shop is located near the site of the annual Serpentine Pavilion. This year’s pavilion was designed by Japanese architect Junya Ishigami as a mountain of slate.
Photography is by Luke Hayes.
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