mccafe in el zapote, guatemala by solis colomer arquitectos

mccafe in el zapote, guatemala by solis colomer arquitectos
all images courtesy solis colomer arquitectos

with the common goal of reinventing the coffee shop space in guatemala, mccafé and solis colomer arquitectos started exploring new ideas that could represent and talk about to the locals and the rest of the world. based on this vision, mccafé el zapote presents an open space surrounded by a uniform three-dimensional skin, formed by thousands of wooden blocks that express three main concepts: the passage, the pixels and the tree´s shadow. the passage presents a traditional architectural element found in emblematic public buildings in the historical downtown in guatemala, such as pasaje aycinena and pasaje rubio. these evoke many pleasant and nostalgic memories to the habitants of these neighborhoods and will also tell new stories to the upcoming generations.

an essential component in today’s technology, is incorporated into the project as a mesh or skin– creating a texture with ‘the pixels’, conformed by thousands of dots or “voxels” that together define and guard this intimate space. 

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designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.