Cafe Shukra

My intervention is limited to the use of part of of the first floor of a compact residential building located in Front a train station in Nara, the oldest and ancient capital of Japan, Nara; in the vicinity the Horyuji Temple—a world heritage as listed by Unesco.
Since the initial design of the building`s first floor (designed by somebody else) was mostly made a transparent glass skin, my design main feature had to solve two conflicting issues. At one hand, I had to preserve a certain degree of intimacy for the customers. At the other, in order to sell, the cafes had to ascertain also a marked presence and existence. To achieve both and create a certain warmth and familiarity, I use a second skin internally juxtaposed to the glass panes of the façade. This skin consists of a grid wood frame partially filled with shoji (Japanese translucent paper) at the upper part and and fabric at the lower part of the frame leaving thus a limited transparent area inbetween. The varied translucency of both the shoji and the fabric helped bringing in a soft content and a quietude needed for and reminiscent of traditional gathering places such as that of this cafe.
Cafe Shukra is a compact Cafe Restaurant that serves mostly select Cafe.