New Styles for a Centuries-Old Tradition

A café is a place “where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill” – that’s how UNESCO described the Viennese café culture in 2011 as it was named an “Intangible Cultural Heritage”. Places of coffee consumption of very different kinds are now indispensable as part of urban life all over the world. Such premises are constantly being redefined, reconceived and restaged – especially now through the “Third Wave of Coffee”.

This publication shows how cafés, coffee houses and coffee shops are designed today: whether as a grand café, a living room mock-up or a nonchalant co-working space, whether in retro style or more casual. In addition to the 60 examples from all over the world, articles and essays tell the reader about very different aspects of coffee (house) culture in the past and present.