Blue Bottle Coffee, thee beloved coffee company born in Oakland, Calif., opened its doors to East Coasters, and now recently recreated an old warehouse to serve as a fresh brewing space in its town of origin.
Michelle Ott, the production artist for the company, was biking through the East Bay and happened to come across the city's known W.C. Morse building. The showroom was built by architect James Placheck in 1920 and became a home for Mr. Morse's automobiles.
Over the years, the location has experienced changes from auto sales to an ice vending machine business, meat cutting and storage, and later a mattress store. In more recent years, the location had lost its attractiveness, but was viewed as a diamond in the rough by Ott.
With a quick snap of a photo by Ott, the Blue Bottle Coffee headquarters hired architect Mark Jensen of Jensen Architects to give new spirit to the space. The design objective was to keep the historical features of the 2,500 square-foot space by only moderately gutting the structure.
According to Interior Design, Jensen stated that to turn an auto showroom into a café, "the key was to intervene without taking away the patina of the space."
San Francisco-based design and fabrications company, Dialogue Design Build, was requested by Jensen to develop a unique mix of custom pieces for the new shop. The designers focused on creating furniture mostly used of recycled materials.
The location is just a few blocks away from the headquarters and now hosts the tech department of the company, behind a curtain of vinyl. The team addition to the space allows for customer training and demonstrations from employees, to truly solidify the desired factory atmosphere of the location.
Jensen stated, "The space is meant to have a workshop feel to it."
If you happen to be in Oakland anytime soon, be sure to stop by this reinvented coffee shop studio and experience the taste of Blue Bottle Coffee.
Not in California? Don't worry, find a location near you here in NYC.
