Mur Mur Architects fills Paris coffee shop with silo-style steel seating

Chunky grain silos informed the shape of the enveloping alcoves at Simple Coffee, an all-stainless-steel Paris cafe designed by local studio Mur Mur Architects.

Simple Coffee is a single-room cafe in the city’s Montmartre district, featuring bespoke built-in seating around the interior’s perimeter.

Crafted from bent sheets of stainless steel, the furniture is comprised of tall half-moon-shaped nooks positioned behind petite matching metal tables.

Benoît Huen and Lucie Rosenblatt of Mur Mur Architects took cues from silos – tubular industrial structures that house bulk materials such as grain or coal.

These rounded elements were made with the same large machines that were originally built to produce grain silos, explained studio co-founder Huen.

“We chose this shape to create deep, intimate and comfortable alcoves in which one can curl up,” he told Dezeen.

Each alcove was topped with a removable, satellite-dish-like steel disc, which can be angled to enhance the thin neon strip lighting suspended from the ceiling that was chosen as a nod to “old Parisian cafes”.

“Each visitor can direct the light and create their own atmosphere,” said Huen.

Fabricated for the project by Normandy-based Atelier Héphaïstos, the furniture is amplified by geometric pillars clad in floor-to-ceiling mirrors that reflect the metallic interior.

A half-moon-shaped stainless-steel counter was placed close to the cafe’s bay windows, echoing the rounded alcoves.

“The counter was intentionally backed up against the storefront so that the activity is visible from the street and the tables and chairs were positioned against the back walls for more privacy,” said Huen.

Mur Mur Architects left the unassuming white storefront deliberately untouched to blend with the cafe’s Montmartre surroundings, making the interior all the more striking.

A spiral staircase connects the main cafe to the basement kitchen.

Simple Coffee follows a host of thoughtfully designed cafes that have recently opened across the French capital. Local studio Claves transformed Le Cornichon into a retro space informed by classic Parisian bistros, while Uchronia created Cafe Shin to pay tribute to Seoul’s thriving coffee culture.

The photography is by Yvan Moreau. 

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• Interiors