Aromatic coffee beans, sumptuous bread scent—Farine on Wukang Lu is not just restauranteur Franck Pecol’s new bakery in Shanghai, but also architects Neri&Hu’s spatial interpretation of bakery as the progeny of coffee and bread.
The design concept behind Farine is encapsulated in where bread is made is a pure, white testing lab; where coffee is brewed, a textured palette of wood and raw metal reminiscent of the complex roasting process. The façade as a play of materials highlights and sometimes conceals the activities within, attracting visitors to double-take voyeuristically. Various scales and composition of aged bronze, reclaimed elm, textured glass, and even hints of colors also add to this layer of intrigue with their unique translucencies. What started as a pure lab space juxtaposing a raw, industrial coffee zone thus becomes a 2-in-1 shop where coffee and bread visually unite and compliment in taste.