Project: Himalaya Bakery
Location : Kupondole, Lalitpur
Built-up Area: 113.85 sq.m.
Designed by: Archio Designs
Hotel Himalaya has been a center of attraction to the place where it resides for decades. Upon a high land, warmly hugged by greeneries, the architecture depicts minimalism with a touch of Nepalese building crafts. This café was visioned to enhance the main entrance gate of the hotel complex to make it more welcoming. The style of the café and proposed outlook is all about the exploration of the new materials infusion with the traditional (existing) ones.
As we face certain problems while developing a new project, we look for the answer from the user’s perspective and offer innovative rather than universal solutions. The café acts as an edge to one busy road which is why the major concern was to create visual accessibility and not a blank screen.
Therefore, a curve large window is introduced which offers a panoramic view of the street. Instead of hindering the existing green belt, the café tends to blend with its surroundings in such a way that it absolutely stands out as a part of the existing hotel architecture elaborately. The off-white walls are borrowed from the main complex with a fusion of large picture windows which bind the flow between the interior and exterior.
The gem of this entire space is a huge, unobstructed well-framed center tree and the key to the material palette was the use of contrasting materials in variations such as metal and glass, pebbles, floor planks, plastics, and fabrics. The interior design creates clean lines with multiple geometric shapes to create an outstanding space.
Vertical strips over the wall break the monotony of plain whites enhancing the sense of space. Adding to which accent copper disc placed dynamically helps binding everything aesthetically. Then a major focus is on the fifth wall, which is the roof which is amazingly put together with a group of squares and smooth illumination that bounces off the ceiling. Off-white long sleek table shine under a Trio of massive circular light fixtures adorned with exposed bulbs on their rims is an eye-catcher. The fabric table-top accent lighting adds to the dimensionality of the space making it private and cozy.
The café catches ample daylight catering to a fresh and soothing environment within. Alongside, during evenings one gets washed off by the magic of warm lights.
