Café Falken / Think Architecture

Café Falken / Think Architecture

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Text description provided by the architects. The listed Art Nouveau building from 1835 was extensively renovated and expanded with a pavilion-like annex along the Aare River.  On the ground floor, the “Cafe Falken” was created with a bar, salon, seminar rooms and a small outdoor terrace. You can feel the history of the time when you walk through the old city wall between the bar and the salon.

The old city wall also subtly divides the café into two room atmospheres. The historic part of the “Cafe Falken” is dominated by exposed stone, the vaulted ceiling of the former cellar and a few purposeful fixtures in darkened oak and burnished brass. The atmosphere in the bar is dimmed, almost contemplative, and you can literally feel the massive walls of the historic building.

The pavilion-like extension has a more minimalist approach and is given a clear structure in the form of prefabricated concrete elements. The elements span from the old city wall to the wall of the riverbank and take over the rhythm of the main building. The statics become visible and divide the space both inside and out. Generous windows between the concrete columns provide a direct link to the close-by Aare River and allow plenty of daylight to flow into the space.

The reduced, bright basic atmosphere of concrete and fine lime plaster is complemented by fixtures made of oak, terrazzo, green velvet and light installations in blackened steel. Reinterpretations of forms and materials create a subtle reference to the historical building substance and in this way combine new and old into a harmonious ensemble.