on the Yongjia Road side of the former French concession in Shanghai, the former garage that now houses Voyage Coffee was a masonry and concrete building with two separate rooms and two large vehicle doors to the street. At the stage when it was used as a store, the two windows facing the inner courtyard, blocked by the latter's ownership, were added. The interior space was dark and damp because of the depth of the building. It was not pleasant to stay there in good weather, let alone in the rainy season
The daylight and the ambiance transform a former garage into Shanghai's Voyage Coffee
First a garage, then a store, constrained by overlooking a non-owned courtyard for which the openings on that side could not be exploited, and by a 1928 German brick castle that now houses a residence for the elderly; the Voyage Coffee project is faced with the challenge of the structural limitations of the original building that made it dark and damp, along with the great asset of Shanghai's lush environment
Atelier suasua's design transformed the building into a small, cozy and pleasant pavilion, full of light and integrated with the lush landscape; the designers assume that it is not necessary to use design to attract the public's attention to such a pleasant place, as much as it is useful to fulfill well a basic need such as relaxing, having a chat and enjoying the atmosphere
Through the metamorphosis implemented by suasua's atelier, Voyage Coffee becomes a place where people can enjoy the precious natural light: the original 2.2-m flat roof is replaced with a pitched roof made of wood and glass; the facade facing the street is completely opened and glazed; the interior space is freed from partitions and made unique and fluid. Finally, the window opening to the courtyard is remodeled into a vertical opening decorated in brick to recall and dialogue with the castle across the street
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