Arti Design Studio has created a dessert shop that features red-colored arched and half-arched walls to create different seating experience in Kuta Utara, Indonesia.
Named The Merlot Pods, the 70-square-metre store is located in Canggu, a residential turns commercial neighbourhood. The building is very close with the street and has a low-rise skyline with thick roof structure that wraps different types of circular seating areas.
Developed for food brand Itsumo, originating from Batam, the dessert shop focuses on soft serve and tart products.
Arti Design Studio aimed to create a project that mirrors the fun elements of the brand. The studio also wanted to create a space that drives careful preparation for Itsumo’s products.
“The pedestrian area is very active with people passing by to go to the beach or even just searching for food and local stores,” said Arti Design Studio.
To achieve a coherent language with the existing fabric, the architects mimicked the clay roof tiles and red bricks wall on the project. According to the architects, these building elements and colors were frequently used components in the existing city fabric.
As the team explained, the project was envisioned as “a little intervention in the streetscape to break the linear path in the pedestrian road, yet a bold way to attract the pedestrians to stop for a while and entered the site.”
The program of the shop consists of foyer, indoor dining, service area, kitchen and a restroom. Customers access the building via a long ramp that connects to the entrance hall.
The outdoor space is also serves as an urban furniture where the people can pause in the middle of the busy street; they are encouraged to feel the sea breeze and the blue sky as they enjoying their soft serve.
The bamboo plants act as a visual buffer from the street to the site, a dust buffer for the interior and also a greenery for the pedestrian.
Although the building is distinguished by three half-arched walls with partially inserted glazing, a built-in intersecting circular seating in the interior space is created as a way to create more seating in a rather small space.
“Each space that created from these arches give a different seating experience; there’s a space where people facing inwards, allowing conversation to occur and there’s also a space where people facing outwards for more privacy,” the studio added.
The team adopted the strategy of adaptive reuse method, so that all the column and roof structure is not demolished.
The studio left the existing column standing in its original position and maintained a gap with a new roof.
“The circular shape is defining the new intervention and divided the outdoor and indoor space, making an interesting experience for both areas,” the studio added.
Floor plan
Section A
Section B
Principal section E
Principal section D
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Project facts
Project name: The Merlot Pods
Architects: Arti Design Studio
Location: Kuta Utara, Indonesia
Size: 70m2
All images © Adi Widiantara.
All drawings © Arti Design Studio.
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