Duet Café & Lounge / Absence from the Island

Duet Café & Lounge / Absence from the Island

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Text description provided by the architects. Note that the coffee barista is indeed the Champion of the Hong Kong Cup Tasters Championship 2021 organized by the Hong Kong Specialty Coffee Association. It was a competition similar to a wine tasting contest that required intense sensitivity of smell, taste and sight as well as great experience in identifying coffee ingredients.

The client’s dedication to his own specialty somehow translated into the expectation of construction craftsmanship. In order to avoid a blandness of the stainless steel used, stainless steel panels in different colors and finishes were chosen to give subtle changes to the facade and in their extension to the interior. For washed aggregate concrete, it was widely used in Whampoa when it was first built in the 80s, a well-known large bourgeois estate in Hong Kong where the shop is located.

The exposed concrete you see now is the result of extensive testing of aggregate and cement combinations. In addition to the two main elements, there is a characteristic boulder in the front of the store as well as smaller boulders placed inside the bar table. They are reminiscent of nature and remind customers that the formation of coffee beans and their resulting taste is indeed dependent on the environment in which they were grown and was a gift from nature.

The salon owner is an experienced hairstylist and used to working in local salons who care a lot about speed which he doesn’t like. Here, he wants to create a boutique lounge that emphasizes the quality of the overall experience as well as the end result. The lounge area can also be easily transformed into a pub scenario where musicians can perform mini gigs at night and alcohol will also be served. The infinity mirror lighting was designed to enhance the atmosphere of musical evenings when the rest of the lights are off.