In any major city around the planet, coffee culture has firmly taken root, spawning a demographic hooked on a cold brew espresso, latte macchiato or a sugar-infused frappuccino, but in Bangkok things have been taken to the next level. The newly opened PAGA, a microroastery and café tucked away in the maze of little streets of the leafy Watthana neighbourhood, has added a theatrical element that puts it in a league of its own. Designed by local practice Taste Space, the venue is housed in a three-storey corner building with simple solid dimensional façades in a striking off-white hue which not only commands a serene vibe in this bustling area of town, but also allows gradual transformations as the sunlight shifts during the day. On the ground floor, a recessed glass façade reveals PAGA‘s café section, featuring an understated setting with a robust service counter, seating arrangements and shelving, all set within atrium space which allows peeks of the sections upstairs.
The design concept is inspired by the abstracted yet also also a tad romantic notion of ‘The Mountain’ where coffee beans are grown on fertile grounds, and a large mountain stone at the entrance is the first element coffee aficionados come across that bears witness of that. Inside, it’s more abundantly referenced by the wall texture, curvy ceiling, and rounded and warm tone furniture. One floor up, an additional seating section can be found, situated directly opposite PAGA‘s micro roastery room, encased in floor-to-ceiling glass. The top floor is home to both coffee storage and a workshop. Because a gap has intentionally been created between the main construction and the outer facade, daylight casts shadows on the wall, adding a subtly evocative element to the setting. The menu at PAGA lists classic coffee concoctions, ranging from espresso and cold brew, to selections of specialty-grade filter coffee and a range of freshly baked pastries.
PAGA
45/1 Soi Sukhumvit 31 (Watthana)
Bangkok 10110
Telephone: +66 80 0096292
Daily 8am-5pm
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
