For its inaugural café, Nana Coffee Roasters opted for the Chonburi region in southern Thailand, a beachside destination that is a tourist hot spot, to open Harudot Chonburi. After a successful collaboration with IDIN (Integrating Design Into Nature) Architects in the capital’s Bang Na district, the company once again enlisted the Bangkok practice to develop an architectural landmark.

Taking cues from the dense foliage of the site, the studio conceived the 5,112-square-foot café as an extension of the arboreal elements. “Normally, trees would be placed outside of the architecture,” principal Jeravej Hongsakul explains. “Here, we explored the idea of combining both.” The three A-frame structures—one containing the grand low-slung bar, one dedicated to a generous seating area, and another housing washrooms and the kitchen—ripple and fold around three carefully placed baobab and silk floss trees. As the forms gently ebb, the architects introduced slits in the angular roofline. “The simplified gables are pulled apart to allow for the trees to grow through,” he adds, “as if the seeds have been planted within.” The resulting skylights wash the 20-foot-tall pine interior in soft light, simultaneously creating luminous courtyards that contrast with the monolithic black façade.

There is a delicate interplay between inside and out. Following the structure’s dynamic profile, there are sinuous benches dotted with light fixtures that line the sheltered al fresco seating areas with the contained “inner court.” The custom chairs, composed of resin-bonded coffee grounds, rice, and leaves, marry natural and built, while sweeping archways appear to almost peel away from the building to frame views back to the interior flora.

In one final nod to its botanical inspiration, the location has been dubbed Harudot in reference to the Japanese word haru, meaning “spring.” Like the plants that inspired it, Nana’s novel home is set to breathe new life into its seaside locale.

Photography by DOF Sky|Ground.

SHARE