Taiwanese studio J.C. Architecture used the cake boxes as a starting point for the interior design. "We wanted to create a space that derives from the actual product itself," say the architects. "We took the idea of the gift packaging and studied the movement of folding."

Les Bebes Cupcakery has a house-shaped shop frontage that extends beyond the facade of the building with a floor-to-ceiling glass window, interrupted by a solid black doorway.

A black-framed box with a yellow interior pushes through the glass, acting as a display cabinet for the cupcakes.

Inside the shop, a line of small shelves appears to have folded out of the white walls like box lids, revealing squares of dark tiles behind.

Dark tiles are also used to border a raised bar area, which is lined with yellow and black stools.

We recently featured a beauty salon in Osaka that also has a house-shaped shop window.

Earlier this year we featured a patisserie that uses reclaimed wooden doors to recreate the decorative panelling of nineteenth century French interiors.

See all our stories about shop design »

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by J.C. Architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

The new cafe occupies an elevated platform in one of the former courtyards of the historic decorative arts museum, a space that now functions as the building's entrance hall following an extensive renovation by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos.

Studio Linse used tables and chairs by Gerrit Rietveld, Wim Rietveld, Kho Liang Ie, Friso Kramer and Martin Visser to create a symmetrical dining area featuring pale shades of cream, grey and beige.

"The main goal was to honour the architecture of the building, so we designed something that was not too overwhelming and in the same colour tones as the rest of the space," designer Barbara de Vries told Dezeen. "We then decided to take Dutch design classics and tried to choose really timeless pieces."

The studio used the same polished Portuguese stone as the new flooring to create a long counter spanning the length of the cafe. "We wanted the bar to look like it rises out of the floor," added De Vries.

To complete the space, two statues from the Rijksmuseum's large collection were relocated to the entrance points and positioned to face one another.

The Rijksmuseum reopened to the public earlier this month. See pictures of the renovated galleries in our earlier story.

See more cafes on Dezeen, including one that also combines a laundrette and a hairdressing salon.

Photography is by Ewout Huibers.

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As the headquarters for local coffee chain Truth Coffee, the cafe occupies the ground floor of an ageing warehouse that Haldane Martin stripped bare as part of the renovation.

The space centres around a huge vintage coffee roaster, which inspired the design concept. "We immediately came up with steampunk as an appropriate conceptual reference, as both coffee roasters and espresso machines display elements of romantic, steam powered technology," explains the designer.

A leather-covered bar runs along in front of the machine and is clad with shiny panels made from pressed tin, while bare lightbulbs and bells hang down from the exposed timber ceiling rafters.

Aside from some vintage pieces, Martin designed all of the furniture for the cafe. This includes high-backed leather seating booths, steel tables with ornate profiles and smaller tables shaped like giant cogs.

A seven-metre-long table runs through the centre of the space and was made using industrial pipes and the building's old ceiling panels. Stools swing out from underneath and power sockets hang overhead as charging points for laptops and mobile phones.

Original cast-iron columns are dotted across the room, while new glass doors open the cafe out to the street.

Dezeen is in Cape Town all this week on the first leg of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour. Keep watching for more details here.

Past projects by designer Haldane Martin include lamps with ostrich-feather shades and the Slant shelving system.

Photography is by Micky Hoyle.

Here's a project description from Haldane Martin:

Truth Coffee - Steampunk roastery and café - designed by Haldane Martin

A turn of the century warehouse building on Buitenkant Street, in the Fringe innovation district of Cape Town, was stripped back to its bare bones, and transformed into a Steampunk coffee roastery, café and barista training school. With the exception of the authentic vintage fixtures, all of the furniture was specifically designed for Truth Coffee by Haldane Martin.

Truth Coffee approached us in 2011 to design the interiors of their cafés including a new 1500m² headquarters in Cape Town Fringe innovation district. We were briefed to deepen Truth Coffee’s brand identity and promote their coffee roastery business through interior design.

We immediately came up with Steampunk as an appropriate conceptual reference, as both coffee roasters and espresso machines display elements of romantic, steam powered technology. Steampunk's obsession with detail and sensual aesthetics also captured the essence of Truth Coffee’s product philosophy – We roast coffee. Properly.

David Donde, the main face behind Truth, loved the idea, as this Victorian futuristic fantasy style and literary philosophy resonated strongly with his "maverick inventor" personality. David worked closely with us throughout the design process, and he and his one business partner Mike Morritt-Smith, physically built many of the designs that we developed for them.

A three story, turn of the century, warehouse building on Buitenkant Street was chosen by the Truth partners to be their new headquarters. The building was stripped back to its bare bones, exposing beautiful cast iron pillars, Oregon pine roof trusses and floors, and original stone and brick walls. We also opened up the ground floor façade onto busy Buitenkant Street with a series of tall steel and glass doors. Most of the buildings natural, aged patina was kept intact and complimented with raw steel, timber, leather, brass, and copper finishes.

The top two floors were converted into creative studio office rental space. The 600m² ground floor was kept as Truth’s headquarters and needed to include a 120 seat restaurant, café, bar and kitchen, their newly acquired 3 ton Probat roaster, a barista trainee school, public event space, coffee bean warehouse, espresso machine workshop, management office, and restrooms.

The huge, fully functioning vintage roaster became the kingpin for the space. Once this was located centrally on the ground floor plan, everything else fell naturally into place. We surrounded the roaster machine with a 6m diameter circular steel shelving structure, reminiscent of a Victorian gasworks.

The leather top main bar, clad in pressed tin ceiling panels, is located symmetrically in front of the roaster shelving. Purpose designed overstuffed, leather and steel, chairs, barstools and copper clad tables create a formal raised dining area in front of the bar. A series of 5 horseshoe shaped, deep buttoned, high backed, banquet seats run down the right hand wall of the space. Each private banquet seat surrounds a leather clad, long, narrow, profile cut steel table.

A small cocktail lounge of blue leather chesterfield couches and a crazy pipe bookshelf is located behind the original industrial lift and a raw steel staircase that leads to the upper floors.

The front café space is dominated by the longest table in Cape Town, a 7.2m long communal table with swing out stools. It is built from industrial pipe, malleable castings, and a table top made from Oregon pine reclaimed from the building's stripped out ceilings. A flickering candle bulb lighting and power cable installation hangs over the table, cleverly providing laptop and cellphone charging access for the café patrons.

Further café seating is provided by the vintage French worker chairs. The over scaled cog teeth on the edges of the Café tables tops, encourage groups of patrons to engage tables together to facilitate larger informal gatherings.

Further café seating is provided by the vintage French worker chairs. The over scaled cog teeth on the edges of the Café tables tops, encourage groups of patrons to engage tables together to facilitate larger informal gatherings.

The barista coffee school is located in the front right hand corner of the space and has a coffee & sandwich hatch open onto the sidewalk for passing pedestrians. Vintage steel stools and old worn school desks placed on the sidewalk create the ideal environment for a quick coffee break for the creative entrepreneurs that work in the area.

The kitchen, public event space, coffee bean warehouse, espresso machine repair workshop, and management office is located towards the back of the space.The owners of Truth Coffee demonstrated their understanding of the value of taking a concept all the way through to the finest details by allowing us to treat the restroom spaces with the same Steampunk aesthetic – exposed copper pipes, Victorian tap levers, pull chains and floor tiles, spun brass basins, and brass shaving mirrors. The Little Hattery also created the most outlandish Steampunk uniforms and hats for the eccentric staff to complete the look.

With the exception of the authentic vintage fixtures, all of the furniture was specifically designed for Truth Coffee by Haldane Martin and his interior design team. The result is an iconic space with true Steampunk character.

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Located in Ghent, Wasbar is the first in a chain of stores proposed in different Belgian cities. Washing machines line the edge of the room, while pastel-coloured cafe furniture fills the centre and two hairdressing stations are located at the back.

Pinkeye developed the concept searching for a better solution to the "garish strip-lighting" and "soundcloud din" of everyday laundrettes. At Wasbar, visitors are free to relax while they wait for the end of the washing cycle.

Each washing machine has a name inscribed on the wall above it and all the pipes are tucked away out of sight. "There's nothing about a washing machine which says it has to stand in an unpleasant space," explains Pinkeye's Ruud Belmans.

Before the renovation, the building was used as a bookshop. The architects restored the original parquet flooring and added a coat of lacquer.

An assortment of mismatched drawers are mounted onto the walls, displaying price lists and acting as shelving for plants.

A graphic logo emblazoned with a clothes peg and a bottle opener is also printed onto the walls. "For us it was important to create a solid identity," said Belmans, explaining how this is integral to rolling the project out in other cities. "A couple of pieces of vintage furniture doesn't cut it," he added.

Another recently completed laundrette is Splash in Barcelona, where neon lights create the impression of a nightclub. We also recently featured a laundry building converted into a house.

See more architecture and interiors in Belgium »

Photography by Arne Jennard.

Here's a project description from Pinkeye:

Sometimes a solution is so obvious that it makes you wonder how on earth nobody came up with it before. Wasbar, a brand-new launderette/meeting place, is a fine example: while their dirty laundry spins, the people of Ghent can enjoy a drink with friends or get a new hairdo in one of the two hairdresser's chairs. The all-in-one concept was elaborated by Pinkeye.

The property that Wasbar occupies was formerly a bookshop. Its worn-out parquet floor was given a fresh coat of lacquer, while the ceiling with its decorative mouldings was left intact. The technical aspect presented the biggest challenge. "A launderette primarily requires plenty of brainwork and preparatory work: you need extra power to keep everything running and we wanted to hide the pipes and wiring from view," Pinkeye's creative director Ruud Belmans explains. The pipes and wiring are ensconced in the cellar, leaving just the rows of sleek machines in the space above. "There's nothing about a washing machine which says it has to stand in an unpleasant space."

Wasbar is perfectly suited to the student or young professional who is cramped for space – something that is not unknown in this Flemish city of students. 'What does the student want?' wondered the young, ambitious proprietors, Dries Henau and Yuri Vandenbogaerde. To spend their time more usefully, I mean more enjoyably, than sitting in a cheerless, bare space with garish strip-lighting in the midst of a 'soundcloud' din of whirring machines.

So Wasbar is quite the opposite: cosy and convivial. The washing theme plays the lead role in the elongated interior. The 18 'grand old ladies', the washing machines that bear the names of a grandma, are lined up proudly along the wall. The tumble dryers take the names of grandpas, all crowdsurfed via Facebook.

Opposite the washing machines stands the colourfully tiled bar, with a collage of wooden drawers in various types of wood mounted on the wall, all recycled from discarded furniture from grandma's day. The contents of the drawers serve as a display for the food menu, the washing prices and washing possibilities, the haircut options and so on. Some of the drawers have been reborn as alternative planters.

Besides employing this kind of upcycling, Pinkeye conceived a palette of toned-down salmon pink, pistachio, cornflower and royal blue, as well as a graphic identity in the form of a two-fold logo: a clothes-peg crossed with a bottle-opener. They created lampshades from coat-hangers and colourful clotheslines playfully break up the space. Second-hand chairs were given a lick of green or blue paint. Fashion designers Black Balloon created dapper laundry bags so that you don't have to trawl through the city with a transparent plastic bag full of personal wares.

"For us it was important to create a solid identity," says Belmans. "The concept will probably be rolled out in other cities in Belgium, which makes a distinctive image important. Then a couple of pieces of vintage furniture doesn't cut it." The designers have even thought about the potential laundry errors of the inexperienced washer: as a warning there are examples of what happens if you throw a red sock in with a white T-shirt or give your woollen sweater a hot wash.

Wasbar taps into the social trend of people wanting to commune again, to meet face-to-face instead of whiling away an hour with 'wassups?' on an iPhone. You can even practice your riffs on the Wasbar piano. And if you really want to, then you can stay in touch with the virtual world via wifi.

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by Pinkeye appeared first on Dezeen.

The asymmetric roof of the cafe slopes gently upwards, rising to meet the rectilinear tower. "With its dynamic shed roof, the facade looks like a hall or a church, making the building something like a sign," explain the architects.

Some of the walls are exposed concrete, while others are coated with off-white stucco.

These materials continue inside the cafe and include the tall rear wall, which has been sprayed with the light render. "The wall is sprayed with stucco in such a manner as action painting, making it look like a canvas of an abstract art piece," say the architects.

A large square windows directs light onto this rear wall, while a bench runs along its length.

"The fluctuating light coming from the sidelight projects delicate scenes on the wall to invite one's consciousness to the depth of imagination," added the architects. "What enriches the space of the cafe is not the expensive materials or novel products, but the rendering of light and shadow."

The building has an L-shaped plan, with kitchen and preparation areas at the back. A courtyard wraps around one side, behind a glass screen.

Wooden chairs and tables furnish the cafe and small cube-shaped lamps are mounted to the walls for extra light.

Japanese architect Kouichi Kimura set up his studio in Shiga in 1991. Other recent projects include the concrete House of Silence and the House of Representation that features a large light chimney.

See more architecture by FORM/Kouichi Kimura Architects »

Photography is by Kei Nakajima.

Above: floor plan

Above: section

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Kouichi Kimura Architects appeared first on Dezeen.