Comments on: West Beach Cafe by Asif Khan

By: Monica Effendy

Monica Effendy — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:17:10 +0000

It’s a nice tiny cafe..I read asif’s west beach cafe in abitare magazine..
the idea about how to make a cafe itself to transform as a stage is very good.. I also like the door detail
it’s not cheap to me….
keep creating, asif!

monica
arch. assistant at dp architects singapore..

By: Brookes Student

Brookes Student — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:40:24 +0000

i went with my university to visit the cafe and met asif there. its quite interesting the points that have been made so far. Example, the point about a builder being able to do this on their own without an architect, is actually quite similar to what asif said; Para phrasing, “we had a close relationship (working mainly only with one builder) i had trust in the builder working on the project and felt confident to let him deal with some of the construction issues.”

Also, the cheap comments. It WAS ridiculously cheap to construct and i think this is one of its major positive points. The steel frames were made literally 400 yards down the road, another interesting point is that the building isnt “heated,” using only the heat from the cooking equipment, whether this works in reality we didnt get an opportunity to find out.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:43:51 +0000

I agree that this is a very nice piece of minimal architecture, even if it doesn’t match some people’s idea of what’s fashionable at the moment. This building makes me want to go to Littlehampton just to eat some ships there.

Whoever was grumbling about cold bridges obviously didn’t notice that this thing is supposed to be open to the elements; and the barrier deals with safety issues quite neatly.

By: adam furman

adam furman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:28:48 +0000

“Most of the people who left positive comments i assume are all buddies of Asif.”

Well mr Q, I am not his friend and I am f*#ng in love with this caf. For all the reasons listed above and more.

By: g_nice

g_nice — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:56:24 +0000

shout out to your boy paul rudolph.

By: steve-o

steve-o — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:05:57 +0000

a great little project!

for those who don’t get it here are some answers to your questions:

Q. where are the fine details?
A. uh, it’s a fish and chip shop.

Q. it looks cheap!
A. uh… and again fish and chip shop…

Q. a wheelchair ramp?
A. looks like there’s one on the side, check the plan.

Q. who needs an architect for this?
A. if you’ve see the same bog standard concrete-block, lino-floored fish and chip shops that I have then I think the answer is self-evident.

Q. ew that fence in front of the windows is so ugly!
A. ever heard of public liability? anyway the wall opens for the view and the breezes (I’m assuming). Not so 16 year olds on an ice cream high can practice their high jumping!

thanks deezen for posting some modest scale architecture – nice to be reminded that you can acheive something worthwhile with a budget under $100M!

By: David Knight

David Knight — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:37:05 +0000

The day that ‘cheap’ becomes a synonym with ‘bad’ I think I’ll give up on the profession.
Having been down there to take a look, I think it’s a lovely little building that does its job with economy and grace and sits very happily in the context of its coastal setting.
And I see by looking at the plans that I did indeed enter it via a ‘wheelchair ramp’.

By: Q

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:29:34 +0000

I think a builder can do this without an architect.
Most of the people who left positive comments i assume are all buddies of Asif.

By: bas

bas — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:57:59 +0000

awesome! wish i lived near a beach n could visit that daily!

By: tengyun

tengyun — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 05:14:43 +0000

to dezeen:
I’m from china.My English is poor.yesterday,My message is the Chinese language for use.But ,it was deleted.
I am sad.
but ,thanks for a complete post