Follow This Mobile Bakery As It Pedals Across China

Although Cycle & Cycle has nothing to do with two-wheeled modes of transportation, it is designed to be mobile. The prefabricated bakery, debuting last year at the Shanghai Coffee Festival and currently residing in a bustling mixed-use plaza in Hangzhou, China, is the work of F.O.G. Architecture, which, with its client, is using the project to explore the relationship between food and land, architecture and people. Inspired by barn vernacular, the 200-square-foot, CLT-framed kiosk appears humble and rustic at initial glance but is actually densely detailed and creatively conceived with modular elements. Take the facade, which is formed from grain sacks neatly stacked to resemble bricks but with small openings left between them to allow for the passage of sunlight and customers to peek inside to watch breadmaking. Along the front and back, a board and a rainproof canopy, respectively, provide shade for those ordering and seated on a built-in low bench, the grain sacks doubling as backrests, or in the supplemental freestanding chairs. When it’s time to relocate Cycle & Cycle elsewhere, the chairs stack inside, board drops down, canopy retracts, and the whole unit gets transported via truck. Next stop: Shenzhen.