Coffee bar dome

Coffee bar dome

SALZBURG (AT) - To mark the 100th anniversary of Naber Kaffee, the Viennese coffee manufacturer commissioned the young architects at ten.two to design an appropriately festive trade fair stand. The architects drew their inspiration from the tiny sultan in the firm's logo and after playing around with several variations on the concept of the dome, they ended up with a dome in 'reverse'.

The dome shape was achieved by giving the 'ceiling' an asymmetrical curvature. The inverted effect is created by long strips of Forex, a foam PVC sheet with a homogeneous cell structure and a silky matt surface that make it easy to work with. Because Forex is so lightweight the entire dome, spanning an area of 48 m², could be supported by the rear stand walls alone. The architects lined the rear walls of the 'coffee bar' with plexi mirror panelling to enhance the sense of space.

The dome is divided into twelve sections, from each of which 84 Forex strips are suspended. Thus the dome is made up of some 1000 strips painted white on one side and brown on the other. Each strip is split down the middle and the undersides are fastened with a red clip. And thus the three colours from the firm's logo – white, dark brown and red – are simply but effectively reproduced in the stand design. (Hannah Schubert)