Shanghai-based firm Neri&Hu has completed a café within a historic, 19th-century public garden noted for its Shikumen typology residences. Named Zhang Yuan, the site has recently reopened after a complete rehabilitation of its historic buildings. 

As part of the revamp, coffee roaster and retailer Blue Bottle Coffee Company commissioned Neri&Hu to create a retail space in one of the old residences. With this project, the firm aimed to channel the Shanghainese balance between urban activity and leisure. 

In accordance with historic preservation guidelines, the existing brick walls, doors, and windows of the original architectural façades and atriums were preserved. The café rises in the midst of these elements. Along the exterior wall of the old building, an elongated, alley-like space connects the main street to the atriums. Here, benches and small tables are lined against the windows and walls.

Neri&Hu worked to make the new structure as light as possible to contrast with the heavy palette of the existing architecture. The roof structure is made with brushed stainless steel, while the roof surface is composed of perforated and bent steel. 

The architects were also inspired by the pre-existing site’s informal construction and simple attachments that people used to extend their private spaces into the alley. The existing structural columns were thus bolstered with metal rods and small platforms to function as light rails, side tables, benches, and object displays. 

In addition, the project features a combination of new Blue Bottle brand furniture and repurposed traditional old furniture.