Dezeen Magazine

Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe

Sukchulmok adds curved brick forms to rooftop of Parconido Bakery Cafe

Curved forms and arched openings feature in this cafe, which Seoul studio Sukchulmok has added to an existing building in South Korea's Gyeonggi-do province.

Named Parconido Bakery Cafe, the cafe is made from red bricks and features playful curved shapes and rounded walls designed to create an illusion-like effect.

Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Parconido Bakery Cafe was designed by Sukchulmok

"The space, created through one rule, was designed to give a sense of expansion and the experience of an optical illusion image," lead architect Park Hyunhee told Dezeen.

Arranged across three floors including a rooftop level, the cafe was designed by architecture studio Sukchulmok to resemble European public squares in reference to the client's time spent in Italy.

Photo of the rooftop at Parconido Bakery Cafe
The studio topped the roof with curving brick volumes

"The client who spent his youth living in Italy is a clothing businessman, opening the cafe as a business expansion to provide people with a space for peaceful rest," said Park.

"These two aspects naturally reminded me of the image of the European square, where people are huddled together talking on a sunny day between red brick buildings and stone pillars."

Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
The design drew references from nostalgic memories of Italy

On the rooftop level and terrace, the outdoor dining spaces are punctuated by clay brick columns with arched connections and walls with U-shaped openings.

Built around steel frames that extend into curved forms above the brick walls, the curved elements are coated in bricks cut to two-thirds of their original thickness to lighten their weight.

Interior photo of the Seoul cafe
The walls and floors have curved edges

A long stainless steel table with a curved underside, along with circular stools and planting, is shaded by a removable canopy made from green, orange and white fabrics.

Curved walls lined with white tiles join with the tiled floor and ceiling to create rooms with rounded forms on the interior levels of the cafe.

The rooms are covered in small tiles of travertine limestone, selected for its use in the fountains of European squares.

Kitchens are built into recesses in the curved walls, while wooden elements, including wall panels and pipes that line a portion of the ceiling, add a feeling of warmth to the interior.

Throughout the spaces, uniquely designed seating areas and bespoke circular furnishings provide spaces for dining.

Photo of the interior of the cafe
The interior was covered in different textural materials

Comprising twelve different designs, the cafe's set of furniture was designed to exhibit a variety of shapes, textures, and materials, including leftover finishing materials, wood, overlapping pipes, and concrete castings.

"Although they have slightly different shapes and textures, the pieces of furniture are all in harmony with the space and show good synergy with space as an object," said Park.

Photo of a kitchen
The cafe's curved edges all have a radius of 600 millimetres

To maintain a sense of uniformity, the studio based the design of each element, including the walls, columns and furniture, around a circle with a constant radius of 600 millimetres.

"A radius of 600 millimetres was used as an act of connecting spaces that were not monotonous," said Park. "It was simply based on the idea that the distance from the height of the door and window to the ceiling finish is 600 millimetres."

Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Furniture was specially designed for the interior

Other South Korean cafes recently featured on Dezeen include a bakery with a curved courtyard designed to act as an "artificial valley" and a Seoul cafe with a vertical farm.

The photography is by Hong Seokgyu.

More images and plans

Second floor plan of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Second floor plan
Third floor plan of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Third floor plan
Roof plan of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe
Photo of Parconido Bakery Cafe