The designers were approached by the clients to design a multi-purpose cafe and meeting space that would be inspiring and impactful through its simplicity and function.
Designed by JC Architecture
Photos by Zach Hone (Paper Space) / How Chan (Paper Wonderland)
Given the short-term lease of the site, we initiated the conceptualization as a temporary art installation to bring a fresh perspective to the former plain library building. Paying heritage to its history, we explored the properties of paper. Made from a natural renewable resource, paper is abundant, flexible, and an ideal scheme to allow users to express, build, and adjust the environment according to their need and mood.
Rather than using common hard surfaces to compartmentalize the space into the required areas, while also stepping away from the conformity of space compiled by floor, wall, and ceiling distinctly, the suspended papers flow three-dimensionally to form continuity and flexible boundaries throughout. The rolls are hung in various heights and distances to create privacy, passage way, as well as different settings for dining, lounging, resting, or playing.
The experience is meant to invite the users to break habits and re-think how the space can be used. The playful surfaces can be manipulated and transformed as the paper is rolled and unrolled from one end to another. As a result, paper became a simple tool that forms the environment and effectively records the evolution of the space, while creating memories as a collective whole, in which the users are the key attributes.
Happier Café/Paper Space redefines the idea of community as a shared, ever-growing project. The design wanted to have a life in the community beyond its exhibition time. Using the customer’s interaction to physically alter the space inverts the typical café experience. It allows guests to contribute to a deeper practice of community formation and creates a lasting impact on individuals beyond the physical time spent in the space.
