This Japanese coffee cabin looks like a cloud from a distance and water up close.

SANAA, a Japanese architecture firm, designed a coffee shop on Okayama University's Tsushima campus. It has a white eave like a cloud, outlining a soft curved shape. The eaves are supported by numerous slender steel columns, which look dense from a distance, similar to the tree trunks next to them, creating an atmosphere for a walk.

Located on the Tsushima campus of Okayama University in Japan

The elevated corridor not only integrates the coffee shop with nature, but also makes the campus smooth with each other.

The enclosed space made of glass is a real coffee shop, which appears in a large area, scattered at random, and filled with tables and chairs. The glass surrounded on all sides creates a transparent environment that allows natural light to come in and allows nature to remain in the line of sight without hindrance.

Large space

Glass wall

Transparent on four sides

The bright, open and integrated nature conveys a sense of openness and acceptance.

It is in line with the original intention of designers to help people communicate with each other.

SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) was jointly established by famous Japanese architects Kazushi Mishima and Riwei Nishizawa in 1995. Many of their architectural designs use glass and lightweight structures to connect people to the outdoors, including the Lecture Hall (Junko Fukutake Hall) designed on the Tsushima campus.

Junko Fukutake Hall