The Silver Cafe by Arca Architects
Arca Architects designed the Silver Cafe in the town of Morecambe, England.
Commissioned by regeneration body ‘Winning Back Morecambe‘, the new cafe building for the Promenade was to provide a distinctive new landmark.
Arca’s solution was to raise the ground level of the garden strip to create a terraced plinth for the cafe to sit upon. A silver stainless steel band wraps the space, framing views of Morecambe Bay through its glazed facades and withstanding the harsh marine climate. This shiny organic form acts as a ‘full stop’ to the western end of the seafront. In use, the cafe seating can spill out to occupy the various levels of the terracing, animating the public space around.
Visit the website of Arca Architects – here.
zEro on 05 Mar 2009 at 4:40 am #
Excellent project, interesting framing of the view.
Now the scary part, in Portugal, at Vila do Conde there is a complete imitation of this design…really scary!
Michael M on 05 Mar 2009 at 1:55 pm #
We have a similar cafe in Philadelphia, except the exterior is in rusted Cor-Ten.
Roberta Gee on 05 Mar 2009 at 7:59 pm #
I like it.
Mono on 06 Mar 2009 at 1:48 am #
What a bunker … it has nothing to do with anything, and the interior … they forgot the interior man …
It presents no interest, from any point you can try to look at it. It’s not even an engineering “challenge”. It’s just a piece of metal in an quite interesting space, blocking the view.
I’ll be very mad if I were to stay in one of the hotels or houses there.
Mono on 06 Mar 2009 at 3:32 am #
and also it has nothing to do with it’s function … where in it’s structure, or just it’s looks, sais : “i’m a coffee shop”. it could be as well a boat rental, or a police station, or a macdonalds. you just have to change the logo. i guess thats why they put it (the big sign) in the first place.
this kind of architecture it’s only a personal experiment of the architects. it could mean/be somenthing, but just for them. as an architect you have to keep your experiments in comprehensible limits and do not make the mistake of thinking that if a project looks nice on the computer it will be nice in reality. i’m sure taht the metal sheet looks very nice on the computer screen.
sorry if i exagerated, i was just tring to say i don’t like it at all.
Mono on 06 Mar 2009 at 3:54 am #
oh, I like something though, the chairs … i love the white chairs.
John on 06 Mar 2009 at 3:59 am #
I like the design, but I would have preferred that it was made out of concrete. The steel and the black panels give it kind of a temporary feeling, as if this is just a temporary building that is not meant to last.
jesuswillsaveus on 06 Mar 2009 at 7:27 am #
sweet deja-vue! and inconsequent architectural guidelines. but sweet.
tayyib on 29 Mar 2009 at 11:24 am #
What space are you speaking of in Philadelphia that looks like this?
I am not aware of it..