Gossip Room Coffee Shop by Alireza Shafiei is Winner in Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category, 2018 – 2019.


DESIGN DETAILS


DESIGN NAME:
Gossip Room Coffee


PRIMARY FUNCTION:
Interior Space and Exhibition Design

INSPIRATION:
The nature of this coffee shop has been inspired by the concept of gossip. Gossiping, basically, arouses a feeling of pleasure at first, but then after a while it gives the person doing it a feeling of discomfort. Broken mirrors try to serve as a symbol of the person’s break with the subject of the gossip in the first moments of doing it, but then the black butterflies, as the symbols of sinning, portray the result of gossiping. They try to imply that gossiping will lead to darkness. The combination of colors used in the furniture is also a symbol of this sinful act.

UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The setting is open to interpretation and the visitors can explain it in any way they wish, but no one can deny the impact of the coffee shop’s name and the shadow of the spaces designed for it. The way in which each part of this setting has been designed can be thought-provoking to any human being. One may keep thinking about what each of these shapes and settings do. What is their function and what concept they introduce? In designing the coffee shop, a very important point was to push the concept to the back of the audiences’ minds through the details of colors and shapes.

OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION:
No costumer is supposed to sit in the northern part of the coffee shop, which has been designed for the takeaway section. Therefore, no dialogue is going to take place there. This is why the way this part has been designed is not directly linked to the concept of gossip. However, black butterflies have been used in the southern part of the coffee shop, which is considered the most important place for customers to sit. These butterflies are meant to give a more logical and practical sense to the combination of a component called “sin” and the coffee shop’s name “Gossip”. Pink blossoms along with broken mirrors, cold concrete plates on the tables, black butterflies, the shape and color of the furniture, and the shape of the chandeliers cannot per give the audience such a feeling, but when put together, they create an amazing setting for the customer.

PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION:
The Project will start in January 2018 and will be available to all in june2019.

FITS BEST INTO CATEGORY:
Interior Space and Exhibition Design

PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY:
3,700 blossoms, all made of cloth, have been designed and installed on the walls. All black butterflies on the wall have been made with paper boards and velvet coatings. The tables are made of concrete and the counters made of Corian. The mirrors are 1mm thick, and have been designed and built with great accuracy and delicacy.

SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES:
The area is 95 square meters. The main materials used in the project include granite stone, concrete, mirror, cloth, and Corian.

RESEARCH ABSTRACT:
The main idea of designing this coffee shop was developed when we decided to turn concept in the space into the form. In other words, we decided to use the hermeneutics method in designing the coffee shop. In designing the coffee shop,s interior, we used the word “gossip”, which is also utilized in the coffee shop,s name. We have endeavored to go through the sensory process of doing an act called gossiping from the beginning to the end by using influential forms.

CHALLENGE:
We were faced with two major challenges when designing this coffee shop: The first challenge was that the coffee shop is divided into a northern and a southern part, and has an L-shaped plan. Therefore, it was very difficult to separate the spaces and allocate one part to a kitchen. And the second challenge was to turn the concept of gossip into an understandable form for the audience.

TEAM MEMBERS (1) :
Amir Safdari

IMAGE CREDITS:
Arash Toosi

Project Link: https://www.alirezashafiei.com/project/gossip-room/


Reference Link: https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=69931