Ini Ani Espresso Bar

Ini Ani Espresso Bar in New York, NY by LTL Architects,
 

Occupying a 350 s.f. storefront on Stanton Street in Manhattan's increasingly-trendy Lower East Side, the Ini Ani Espresso Bar posed an interesting design problem to architects Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis. With only $40,000 for the budget (approx. $115 per s.f.) and three months for design and construction, the local three-person firm designed and built all of the finishes, including "the cardboard and cast plaster walls, lights, curtains, door handles, cor-ten door and window frames, front sign and all the furniture," according to the firm's web page.

Like most coffee shops, Ini Ani caters to both "for here" and "to go" customers. The architects split the space into two via a framed opening to accommodate the two realms. From the entry, a wall of almost 500 cast plaster, coffee cup lids leads the customer to the counter, from where they can receive their coffee and depart Ini Ani or walk through the framed opening to the warm-toned seating area.

In the seating area, the predominant material is cardboard, stacked with exposed ends in steel framing of various heights and widths above stained wood bench seats. Along with the lids, the cardboard strips are a visual play on the popularity of coffee and its current means of containment. Openings break up the sound-absorbent, cardboard walls, as do projected boxes used as shelves for plants. Suspended lights, wood tables, chairs, and magazine racks finish out the intimate space.

The architect's web page features a time-lapse construction slideshow (link no longer available) that illustrates the constraints of the project; its size, budget and duration. As we watch the architects themselves transform the space - once a fortune teller's apartment and shop - we see the imaginative layering of the small space through simple and economic materials, as well as the many late nights put into finish the project.