March 15, 2020

Text: Jesse Dorris

KOGAA Utilizes Local and Raw Elements for Prague Café

Handcut terracotta pipes front Typika’s counter, topped with an oak veneer that also forms shelves. Photography by Alexandra Timpau.

Prague’s Typika “is a specialty café with care for locally-sourced, raw ingredients,” says Alexandra Georgescu who designed the space with her cohorts at Czech firm KOGAA Studio. The aesthetic is similar: local and raw.

The café’s 1,700-square-foot space is divided into three zones, “all built by hand from local suppliers and makers,” she notes, including the communal table up front, central freestanding coffee station, and soft seating in the back. The team devised tubular-steel shelving to hold ample plants and knickknacks and prop up tables and utilized oak veneer for a shelving system in back and the front of the coffee station.

A mirror made locally catches sunlight and reflections of plants lined up on floating shelves. Photography by Alexandra Timpau.

The main material, though, is a surprise: terracotta water drainage pipe. The team hand-cut and arranged the pipes into walls, screens, and faces for the counter, creating a minimal but eye-catching op-art depth. “Their pattern holds the space together,” says Georgescu, “giving character and uniqueness.” Not to mention a bit of a raw touch.

The team hand cut and arranged terracotta water drainage pipes to create walls and screens. Photography by Alexandra Timpau.
A ficus grows through a custom, communal table. Photography by Alexandra Timpau.
DURO Design fabricated the custom powder-coated tubular steel shelving systems. Photography by Alexandra Timpau.
The stools scattered around the communal table are by Fameg. Photography by Alexandra Timpau.

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