Local architecture studio Moroni Ciovini and designer Ana Montero have preserved the exposed layers of concrete wall for this bookstore and café in Buenos Aires.
At just 247 square feet (23 square metres), Medio Pan cafe is just large enough to fit seating, a bar and bookshelves, which are located at the back and front of the store.
For the shop’s interior, Moroni Ciovini (M++C) and Montero created a furniture unit of multilaminate guatambú wood that makes up the shop’s seating, bar and posterior bookshelf.
A narrow bench runs along the length of the shop, facing the bar, so that visitors can get a closer look at the barista’s work, according to the team.
Storage was integrated below the bench, while small wooden armrests were placed periodically and double as side tables.
The seating runs directly into the bookshelf, which expands over the entrance to storage space at the back of the store. A chainlink fence extends from the top of the bookshelf to meet the ceiling.
On the opposite side of the bookshelf, a wider bench takes up the corner, providing a nook for visitors to more “calmly” enjoy a book.
The cafe bar takes up the remaining space, with its front abutting the shop’s facade to double as a window counter.
The team created folding glass doors for the storefront, which can be arranged in a variety of positions. Small shelves were affixed to the doors, which display a changing parade of books held down by neon green elastic and small wooden pins.
According to the team, the folding doors were created to evoke newsstands found throughout Buenos Aires.
The space was completed with soft green highlights, found in backsplash tile, cushioning and pillows that line the wooden seating, a curtain at the back of the store and Formica countertops.
The layers and patterns of the textured concrete walls were kept largely preserved and covered with a transparent coating to display the space’s previous uses, while the team also decided to keep the original granite tile as a nod to the building’s history.
Moroni Ciovini is a Buenos Aires and Valencia-based architecture studio founded by Christian Moroni and Belén Ciovini.
Elsewhere in Buenos Aires, designer Florencia Rissotti recently renovated a warehouse to host a fabric store and architects Julio Oropel and Jose Luis Zacarias Otiñano created a bio-art installation focused on fungi.
The photography is by Fernando Schapochnik
Project credits:
Architecture: Moroni++Ciovini, Ana Montero
Construction: Estudio KO
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