Simple Loaf Café

Simple Loaf, a café/bakery in Park Slope in Brooklyn is located at the ground level of a building from 1921. Jazz music played when Shari, the founder, opened a door of her space, and there was an authentic brick wall on one side of the serving/entry area. We decided to keep the brick wall as an artifact to times behind us. 

The proposed design formed gradually as we engaged in a dialogue with the client. Predicament was to understand the workflow of service personnel and customers. Existing conditions were complemented with subtle in materiality yet decisive in geometry approach. Today, the neighborhood is a hectic urban retail-based street with a lot of small shops and restaurants. 

The floor finish wraps up on the wall behind the bar station, which is reminiscent of old local bars having a three-foot clad on the back walls. It comes from need to protect surfaces that are exposed to impact in service work environments.

The service bar is long and an accent in space, it defines the circulations.  We decided to clad the bar volume with 4”x4” tile, off white in gloss by Ann Sacks. Tile pattern is to counterpart the brick wall. Deltalight provided photometric study and assisted with selecting lighting fixtures. There is an array of recessed downlight, an array of wall washers and an array of pendants all above the bar, providing lighting for work surfaces. Single mini recessed lighting fixtures are at the entry area for accent, and one in front of the restroom. Brick wall was left alone, no lighting accent.

The shelves design stems from the concepts Lenka developed within her furniture collection. They are solid aluminum powder coated in white. We were inclined to frameless flush doors; on this project we recommended EZ Doors.