neri&hu suspends imprint of corrugated roof inside blue bottle coffee's shanghai branch

the imprint by neri&hu at blue bottle coffee in shanghai

In Shanghai’s southern portion of Columbia Circle, where the emphasis is on public cultural activity spaces, Blue Bottle Coffee commissioned Neri&Hu to design a café with an implied sense of domesticity by recreating the imprint of a ‘home’ to reflect on the essence of inhabitation when things surrounding us are constantly shifting and changing with the pace of the city. Columbia Circle began as a country club for expatriates in the 20s, became an industrial park in the 50s with the addition of 11 buildings, and most recently was renovated by OMA in 2016 into a vibrant mixed-use hub, now regarded as one of Shanghai’s most successful urban regeneration projects.

The Imprint – Blue Bottle Coffee Columbia Circle Café | all images © Zhu Runzi

exploring the art of absence with a corrugated roof

As English artist Rachel Whiteread argues in her work, The connection between architectural absence and memory, the negative form of a once-existing building, can be employed as a visual reproduction of ‘traces’ that elicit sentiments of attachment to one’s home. Following Whiteread’s approach for The Imprint at the Blue Bottle Coffee Columbia Circle Café (see more here), the team at Neri&Hu uses a white suspended form in the negative shape of an archetypal roof, as if a mold were used to cast a house in place, including the imprint of the corrugated lines of roof drainage on its surface. Underneath it, a continuous surface of recycled clay bricks and plaster reveals a house whose finishes have been stripped down to the subtle outlines of a building footprint and traces on the surface and neighboring facade.

Neri&Hu design the space with an implied sense of domesticity

a multifunctional café with a circular flow

Despite the physical absence of the house, coffee lovers may still feel as though they are shielded by the roof when under the negative shape of the eaves. The coffee-making bar and multi-functional platform sit under the white mass. Upon entering the Blue Bottle Coffee space through the main entrance, people can select products, wait in line to place their orders alongside the merchandise display area while browsing books, and finally sit around the floor to enjoy a cup of coffee. The multi-functional floor takes up the center, resulting in a circular flow, with tables and chairs distributed around its perimeter. With the centralized focal point of an absent house, The Imprint by Neri&Hu ‘invites patrons to partake as a community in the various rituals of daily life and delight in new potential encounters and gatherings,’ concludes the studio. 

a browsing section with books displayed on the counter

tables and chairs distributed around the central roof

the Columbia Circle branch invites guests to move around in a circular flow

creating a continuous surface of recycled clay bricks and plaster for The Imprint by Neri&Hu

project info:

name: The Imprint 

location: Columbia Circle, Changning District, Shanghai, China

interior architects: Neri&Hu Design & Research Office | @neriandhu

partners-in-charge: Lyndon Neri, Rossana Hu
senior associate-in-charge: Qiucheng Li
design team: Xuan Zhang, Jiaxin Zhang, Greg Wu, Pinwen Zhang

client: Blue Bottle Coffee | @bluebottle

photographer: Zhu Runzi

videographer: Jeremiah Neri Studio

completion date: March 2024
gross area: 156 sqm