{"id":22765,"date":"2021-08-30T09:59:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T09:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bartalks.net\/?p=22765"},"modified":"2021-08-30T10:00:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T10:00:04","slug":"blue-bottles-shibuya-store-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bartalks.net\/blue-bottles-shibuya-store-review\/","title":{"rendered":"BLUE BOTTLE’S SHIBUYA STORE REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blue Bottle has kept its Japan outlets pretty consistent in design since they opened their first outlet in 2015. I feel comforted by the familiarity of beech wood against white concrete. However, for their latest outlet in Japan, located in the heart of the capital city Tokyo, the Californian coffee company decided to switch it up in terms of interior design and the architect in charge of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coffee company had worked closely with Schemata Architects led by Jo Nagasaka to design almost 20 outlets in Japan, along with a few in South Korea and Los Angeles. However, the latest Blue Bottle outlet in the Shibuya neighbourhood was designed by Tokyo-based architect Keiji Ashizawa, who had designed only one other Blue Bottle outlet in Yokohama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of Blue Bottle outlets can be found in the quieter parts of even the busiest of neighbourhoods. I decided to visit the Shibuya outlet, located a fair walk from the main station to Kitaya Park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Azra Outside the Blue Bottle Shibuya<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Originally a local cherry blossom viewing spot when it first opened in 1963, the park became a de facto bicycle parking lot and smoking zone.\u00a0 It went through a massive revamp as time went by and reopened in April 2021, featuring shops on top of Blue Bottle amidst open event areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first impression of this new outlet I got was its darker ambience compared to the dozen others I\u2019ve visited in Japan. Instead of wood, Ashizawa used over 7,000 Formafantasma-designed ExCinere tiles<\/a> for the interior to connect with the timber-clad exterior. This is what Ashizawa has to say about the design choice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interior uses Autumnal Colours <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n