Dezeen Magazine

Arthouse by Joey Ho

Arthouse Cafe by Joey Ho

Triangular windows pierce the faceted walls that fold around a cafe in Hangzhou, China.

Arthouse Cafe by Joey Ho

Hong Kong designer Joey Ho designed the Arthouse Café on the top floor of a three-storey building that also houses a gallery.

Arthouse Cafe by Joey Ho

Some of the triangular openings are contained within wood-lined recesses, while others have thick wooden frames.

Arthouse Cafe by Joey Ho

Monochrome chairs and tables that furnish the cafe also feature triangular surfaces and facets.

Arthouse Cafe by Joey Ho

Some other interesting cafes we've featured include one that looks more like a warehouse and another that has a wall of timber offcuts - see more here.

Photography is by Mr. Wu Yong Chang.

The following text is from Joey Ho Design:


Enjoy Drinks at Arthouse Café under Geometric Ambience

When you walk in a café

Can you expect what a café will look like before you walk in for a cup of coffee? The proportion of chained café is overwhelming in the city nowadays. While it’s good to have familiarity towards a place where things inside are within your expectation, it’s always nice to have a change and surprise to brighten up our routine lifestyle!

A Hong Kong based architectural and interior designer, Joey Ho, has a unique perspective towards this existing coffee culture. Joey applies his new dimension of space design on bar & café and creates the innovative Arthouse Café which aims to bring café-goers an enjoyable, brand new experience.

Sip a cup of coffee in a symmetrical leisure space

Unlike chained shops, Arthouse Café offers an unprecedented, new atmosphere for visitors in terms of relaxation and social events. Café-goers now have an ideal place for mingling with others in an innovatively-designed public space.

Arthouse Café is constructed with minimal use of materials for a new landscape, with the aim of stimulating each visitor’s complicated sensation. Inspired by geometry and using triangles as blueprint, “moving triangle” concept is manifested by placing triangles in three-dimensional form to surround the whole sitting area. Slight changes of simple lines construct the character of the cafe which brings every individual into a new geometric context. Visitors will experience a non-verbal “dialogue” with the interior space, with the café’s attempt of breaking boundaries between traditionally divided units such as wall and ceiling.

When your body moves between triangles in a café

Interior space is in general considered to be static in contrast to the moving human body. However, the designer develops a dynamic form for the static interior space of Arthouse Café. As a result, movement of human body through this graphically active space (“moving triangle”) will generate a non-determined concept in which spatial and body boundaries between the café and users constantly blur.