Rex Pastry Cafe

Rex Pastry Cafe Architect: Bakhtyar Lotfi (Bakhtyar Group – Consulting Engineers and Architects) Location: Tabriz, Iran Date: 2013 Area: 270 sqm (Indoor: 180 sqm + Outdoor: 90 sqm) Status: Completed Client: Mr. Ekrami Project Team: Mohammad Seyyed Rezayi Khormizi (Preliminary 3D Modeling and Drawings), Nafiseh Dehghani (Advanced 3D Modeling and Material Investigation), Mazdak Sadeghi (Detailing and Technical Drawings), Reza Mokarram (Structure Consultant), Arash Afshari (Electrical Utilities and Lighting Consultant) Construction Team: Ramtin Madadi (Construction Main Contractor), Omid Ramin Rad (Resident Civil Engineer), Majid Zamani (Shaping and Installing The Wooden Elements), Houman Alinia (Shaping and Installing The Acrylic Glass Elements), Akbar Heydari (Shaping and Installing The Steel Elements) Photo: Taher Sadati, Samad Nojavan In this project, the main idea was to integrate spatially and functionally the indoor pastry with the coffee shop located in the open area (the terrace). This was maintained through deploying a design strategy engendering an end product of ceiling, flooring, and vertical components in a unified and continuous combination. Rex Pastry Cafe, established in 1937, is one of the oldest pastry cafes in Tabriz. Its coffee shop was a popular spot for the youth, intellectuals as well as the ordinary people. The cafe was at service till 1979, the date that since then is closed almost for three decades. After this long pause, Rex second branch design project provided a valuable and momentous chance for the design team to recall and revive its socio-cultural and nostalgic status through a brand-new architectural costume. Doing so, in design of new branch, 8 tables are positioned in an open area of 90 square meters benefiting from a beautiful panoramic site view while associated to the indoor pastry in regards of geometry and function. These atypical tables are hanged from the ceiling structure with no legs touching the ground.