Urban life can be a drag for obvious reasons in many cities across the planet, but in Seoul we’ve noticed a wave of new design-led coffee parlours and cafés that induce a certain level of happiness when navigating this sprawling megalopolis. Behold BAKER BAKER, a newly opened baker shop and café in the city’s leafy Gangnam district on the south bank of the Han river. The establishment occupies a 149 sqm. (1,604 sq.ft.) on the ground floor of the IMFORM Tower, the six-storey headquarters of an eponymous South Korean IT company, and also comes with a small pavilion in the front yard which houses a wall-mounted display featuring the freshly baked daily offerings and digital information screen. The interior design, created by Seoul-based architecture practice Oftn Studio, is very much geared towards the courtyard as an extended space, and as such, the interiors of both spaces are merely shielded by retractable glass panels.
BAKER BAKER‘s café and bakery setting makes the building’s bare concrete shell an integral element of the Spartan setting. Apart from the retractable glass façade, one side of the space is captured by large windows, allowing in even more daylight. The opposite side is clad in large polished granite panels all the way to the back of the property. A robust wooden counter with a built-in glass cabinet and adjacent tiered display, demarcates the workspace. All furnishings are custom-made and include various designs, such as a chunky communal table with stools and a specially designed standing lamp, smaller tables, chairs and benches, all crafted from timber. As its names already implies, BAKER BAKER offers a wide variety of bread, sandwiches, pastries and cakes, all freshly baked on the premises, in addition to a range of coffee concoctions. Honestly, we can’t help thinking the IT company’s staff totally preferring this spot over their own stuffy canteen upstairs. Oh wait, perhaps this is their canteen?
BAKER BAKER
IMFORM Tower, 5 Seolleung-ro 120-gil, Ground Floor (Gangnam)
06092 Seoul
Daily 10am-6pm
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.
