Founded by Oakland’s venerable family-owned coffee bean importer Royal Coffee, The Crown is an open laboratory for the roasting, cupping, and tasting of coffee. The project transforms a historic auto- mechanic’s shop into an enfilade of interconnected spaces for the various processes of coffee production.

The spaces are defined by timber superstructure that marches down the narrow building. The ribbon of sliding glass doors that infill structural frame act as a valve, modulating the openness of the adjacent programs. The glass pendant fixtures, stainless steel and white tilework in the roasting and brewing labs take their cue from the laboratory-like nature of activities in those spaces.

The more public spaces are activated by a visually dynamic wall of textured green tile. The colored pattern was conceived as an abstraction of the grain and texture of raw coffee beans which represents the DNA of Royal Coffee. The public spaces are softened by wood flooring, plaster walls, and patterned marble penny tiles.

From Broadway Ave, one is drawn into The Crown passing through a concrete vestibule, and a large custom gear-operated sliding-glass and steel storefront. Once inside, the café experience is framed by an illuminated menu board, the green tile wall and wall-mounted canisters for bean storage. Grounding the space is a monumental custom steel chandelier whose geometries harmonize with the hexagonal wall tiles.