I was in Fukuoka in December and stumbled onto this soon-to-open Starbucks. The wood facade caught my eyes, of course, but I could not go in because it was 5 days before its opening.
Starbucks stores all around Japan are slowly changing its interior design lately. Gone are the cozy earth-colored graphics posters on walls as previously seen, gone are the lounge chairs. The new interiors is simpler in decoration, more sophisticated in its materials palette, and more subdued in overall feel. A lot of wood is used, the atmosphere is bright. If the old Starbucks was “a cozy winter reading room,” the new Starbucks is “Californian Loft in the spring.”
Well, it turns out that this new Starbucks in Fukuoka was designed by Kengo Kuma under the concept of “Mixture of Tradition and Contemporary by Natural Material” for this specific site. It sounds like it’s a one-time-deal and won’t be the standard for upcoming new stores. So it got me wondering….
What other architects and designers do you want to see design a new Starbucks store? For me, it would be… Japan’s nendo http://nendo.jp/ …. and Studio Job. http://www.studiojob.nl/ How about you?
Wow. If the Starbucks around here looked like that I might start drinking coffee…..! ;)
thanks for visiting my blog! If store design gets you to drink coffee, maybe Starbucks is onto something ;)
Well, I like it but at the same time I see swords coming at me. There’s something battle-istic about it. (yes I made up that word)!
Hi Kristan! Thanks for visiting my blog. You are right, they do look like swords!haha or a square hedgehog;)