As if anticipating the highly ambitious revitalisation plan for downtown Oakland which officially kicked off earlier this year, a striking design-led café has opened its doors that fits right in. Aptly called The Caffè, the venue is an initiative of Mr. Espresso, a storied coffee brand which supplies its products to leading coffee parlours across the entire Bay Area and far beyond. The Caffè occupies a voluminous 1,200 sq.ft. (133 sqm.) ground floor unit on the premises of The Key, a newly built high-rise structure, and features an understated interior design by San Francisco-based architecture practice jones | haydu. Given the company founder’s Italian roots, it’s not surprising that an abundance of cues have been taken from Italian culture, using minimalism and contrast along the way.
The Italians call the ritual of stepping into a caffè and enjoying espresso a pausa or a pause, a moment that allows for reflection and community. In Italy, to this very day, the pausa is taken while standing at the bar. And speaking of which, a full-fledged bar takes centre stage, featuring an oak framework and cladding of lavish Italian Calacata marble. Inspired by the Italian notion of chiaroscuro, or contrast, the structure behind the bar is hand-polished, shiny copper. But The Caffè‘s undeniable eye-catcher is its canopy sculpture which celebrates the voluminosity of the space in a visually dramatic way, and is a nod to the domes and arcades of the opulent Renaissance and Baroque periods. The Caffè‘s menu lists a wide variety of coffee variations, including drip coffee and specialty coffees, and a selection of pastries. © superfuture
The Caffè
The Key, 1120 Broadway (Downtown)
Oakland, CA 94607
Mon-Fri 7am-4pm
Sat 9am-3pm
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.
