Piece of Drink Cafe, Ho Chi Minh City Bistro Interior Design, Vietnamese Restaurant Building, Architecture Images
Piece of Drink Cafe in Ho Chi Minh City
15 Mar 2022
Architects: D1 Architectural Studio
Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Photography: Quangtran
Piece of Drink Cafe, Vietnam
What is Art?
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable”. – Kurt Vonnegut
Believing that art is not something frozen in frames, but an act of living, D1 Architectural Studio created the Piece of Drink Bistro in hope that when coming to this place, guests will be able to apprehend a very simple but delicate aesthetic, and feel a deep connection between the soul and nature. Piece of Drink space is not just bricks, rocks and sands, but rather an unique emotional experience.
There is a story like this,… about the origin of the wabi-sabi philosophy in Japan: In his youth, Sen no Rikyu, one of the fathers of the Japanese tea ceremony, went to see his tea-master, Takeeno Joo.
Takeeno Joo tests the young man’s heart by asking him to take care of the garden. Rikyu cleans up debris, rakes the soil, rearranges the garden, and removes any contamination. Then, before presenting his work to the master, he shook a branch of a cherry tree, letting a few flowers fall
randomly on his perfect piece of art.
To this day, the Japanese respect Rikyu as someone who understands the core of a philosophy deeply rooted in Japanese culture – the wabi-sabi philosophy.
Wabi-sabi is the art of finding beauty in imperfection, in impermanence and unfinished business, the purity of fragile beauty.
That is the architectural philosophy of Piece Of Drink and also of D1 Architectural Studio. We perceive architecture as a work of art, a theater for both obscenity and sophistication. With that in mind, the design of Piece Of Drink centered around empathy, gentle contemplation, detachment from the chaos of the city and back to the idyllic beauty of rocks and trees and… definitely, coffee
Located in the alley at 10 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, the cafe captures the attention of viewers with an impressive stone curtain that covers the whole space. The curtain is constructed by stacking layers of stone atop one another to form a ‘leaf system’ that relieves the heat of the scorching sun from the west direction, and at the same time circulates air around the building. The stone curtain is also very useful in soundproofing, so that in the midst of the city bustling with countless noises, guests would find Piece Of Drink an inviting, peaceful oasis.
And just like an oasis, Piece Of Drink connects its inhabitants with nature. Upon entering the shop, it is easy to see that the space is laden with rocks – big rocks, small rocks, rough and jagged with the traces of time. The rocks are not here for the purpose of decoration but serve as subjects for contemplation. Rocks and plants, like wind and water, the nature around us – none of them speak human language, they do not know how to ask questions, do not know how to give us advice. But when we put our hands on the surface of a rock, strangely we can feel peace seeping into our hearts.
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
If you have time on a Sunday morning, Piece Of Drink invites you to take a walk around the garden where each brick is deliberately arranged.
Take a look – here, in this corner, a small bonsai peeking between the stone fence, in this corner, lies a shy flower hiding in the grass, and over there, is a bountiful yellow star fruit tree….
There are so much around us to discover, when the heart is filled with love.
The interior space of Piece Of Drink emphasizes service experience, with the counter situated in a central position so that staffs can observe and serve guests promptly. There is a sense of meticulous attention to detail – from the softness of the chair cushions, the flower vase on the table, the aroma of the café, to the volume of the music.… the walls are clad in ceramic tiles with the wavy pattern facing outwards, to absorb the noise, maintaining the sense of peace.
Decorating the walls Piece Of Drink are images of the installation artworks donated to the shop by artist Uu Dam Tran Nguyen. These are works in the series “Serpent’s Tails” by the artist, which was showcased in the eighth Asia Pacific Triennial exhibition in Brisbane, Australia in April
2016.
Using a very common material – plastic bags filled with exhaust gas – the author recreated the exact feeling of drowning under the whirlwind of exhaust streams from hundreds of motorbikes that encircle us whenever we stop at any intersection. The project warns urban residents about the potential dangers of environmental pollution, and encourages us to think more deeply, in order to live more reflectively.
Living mindfully and reflectively is one of the ideas D1 Architectural Studio wants to convey through Piece of Drink design. With just a
simple act of looking up at our own image on the ceiling, each of us can have an inspiration to contemplate about the self, about our own
identity and the persona that the world wants us to play.
As the urban lifestyle leads us to become more and more superficial, the connection between people and nature, between people and even,
people with themselves gradually loosens, until we are no more than moths, burning ourselves in the cycle of success and failure, gains and
losses, finding satisfactions only in momentary gratifications or fleeting excitements.
Piece Of Drink is a place for those who know how to stop and think, how to reflect upon themselves. Those who seek deeper meanings. And artistic, delicate souls, who always cherish the desire to contribute their part to build a kinder and more mindful world.
In the future, the shop will be home for a new, young artist community, where new ideas, new conversations emerge and culminate, fueled by the creative inspirations that comes from cups of our aromatic coffee.
Piece of Drink Cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietman – Building Information
Design: D1 Architectural Studio – https://www.d1arch.com/
Project: Renovation
Category: Bistro
Completion: 2021
Gross Floor Area: 270 sqm
Lead Architect: Tannguyen
Lead Interior Designer: Oanhvu
10 D1 Nguyenthiminhkhai Street, Dakaoward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Photography: Quangtran
Piece of Drink Cafe, Ho Chi Minh City images / information received 150322
Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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