How is a boundary created for a cafe inside a shopping centre?

With three instruments: threshold, floor and light. Here the flower-covered arches define a threshold without stopping anyone, the floor pattern separates from the material of the mall circulation, and the light colour shifts from cold to warm. With all three working, a guest notices they have entered somewhere; a scheme that relies on a sign alone reads as a continuation of the corridor.

How many seating types should a cafe have?

As many as the dwell times you are aiming at. This project has five: stools, two-seat armchair groups, long banquettes, half-enclosed tables inside arched niches, and cage-framed private seats. The aim is occupancy management rather than visual variety; when someone arriving alone can sit without occupying a table, the same area serves more people.

Does every venue need a private room?

You do if you host large parties that stay a long time. Seated in the main room, such a group both restrains its own conversation and shortens the dwell time of the tables around it. A room with its own door removes both losses and can be sold as a separate product. Here the colour and floor of that room were deliberately kept different from the main space.

Do you work on venues abroad?

Yes, this project was prepared for a shopping centre floor in Jordan. The drawings and visuals are ours. A centre’s rules on shopfronts, fire and services differ everywhere, so we run that part together with the architect of record or contractor on the ground.

Cafe and restaurant architecture · Jordan

We designed a cafe-restaurant inside a shopping centre in Jordan.

A long space open at both ends, with no shopfront, on the floor the escalator arrives at. In a shell like this the boundary of the venue is drawn by the architecture rather than by a wall. Below we set out how that boundary was built, why the seating types were varied, and why a separate room was needed.

Location: Jordan, shopping centre floor
Space type: Cafe-restaurant with a separate private room
Scope: Interior design and visualisation
Stage: Design

Design principle

A cafe in a shopping centre that fails to become a distinct place within the passing crowd turns into somewhere people walk through rather than sit in. What draws the boundary is not a wall but the arches, the floor pattern and the height of the ceiling.

A front with no shopfront

The space opens directly onto the shopping centre’s circulation; there is no shopfront to close. When that is the case, saying where the venue begins is the job of the architecture, not of a sign.

We built the boundary from flower-covered arches. An arch defines a threshold without stopping anyone: a person walking in notices they have passed from one place to another, and a person outside can see in before entering.

The surfaces between the arches were finished in mint-green tile and brass framing. After the neutral floor colour of the mall circulation, those two colours let the boundary of the venue be read at a single glance from a distance.

At the entrance: a wall covered in fuchsia roses, a suspended rattan hanging chair and a low band of mint-green tiling. — Under a flower-covered arch: mint-green tiling, brass framing and a suspended rattan hanging chair.

The first three metres facing the escalator

Someone arriving on the floor decides within the first three metres. So directly opposite the escalator we placed something to look at rather than somewhere to sit: the flower wall, the hanging chair and the brass ceiling.

Putting tables here buys capacity in the short term and loses it in the long term. Everyone coming off the escalator looks down on whoever is seated, and those tables end up being the last to fill.

In this zone the ceiling was dropped as a brass coffer. The lower ceiling creates the feeling of an entrance hall, and by comparison it enlarges the height of the main room beyond it.

The arrival zone opposite the escalator: a brass coffered ceiling, flower arches and hanging chairs. — The arrival zone opposite the escalator: a brass coffered ceiling, the flower wall and hanging chairs.

The counter and the order line

The counter was moved to the end of the room, towards the direction circulation continues in. That keeps the queue behind seated guests; with a counter in the middle, the queue forms between the tables.

The wall behind the counter was divided into three arched niches: cup shelving on the left, the menu in the middle, jar shelving on the right. With the menu centred and on its own, the person ordering does not have to search for it.

A run of stools was left in front of the counter. It gives someone arriving alone a place to sit without occupying a table, and that is where the capacity of a cafe gains the most.

The pink-fronted counter with its row of stools, and three arched niches behind for cup shelving, the menu and jars. — The pink-fronted counter, the run of stools in front of it and the three arched niches behind.

Keeping the main axis clear

The axis running through the middle of the room is never narrowed and is kept in a single material. The floor pattern begins only in the seating zones; the plain strip down the centre describes the walking route to the eye.

That distinction also fixes where the tables go. Where the patterned area ends, the tables end. When the operation wants to add chairs into the axis on a busy day, the limit the floor sets stays visible.

Two different seating types face each other across the axis: high-backed banquettes on one side, loose armchair groups on the other. Two different dwell times were aimed at on the two sides of the same axis.

Looking along the main axis: tables with pink chairs on the left, shell-shaped armchair groups on the right, the central walking strip clear. — Along the main axis: banquettes and tables on the left, loose armchair groups on the right, the central walking strip left unpatterned.

Varying the seating types

One type of table in a cafe means one type of guest. Five separate seating types were set up here: stools, two-seat armchair groups, long banquettes, half-enclosed tables inside arched niches, and cage-framed private seats.

That variety is occupancy management. Someone arriving alone takes a stool, a short meeting takes an armchair group, larger parties who stay longer take a banquette; the operation earns different revenue over different durations from the same floor area.

Colour supports the same split. Olive-green chairs sit in the short-stay zones and deep rose banquettes in the long-stay zones, so guests choose the place that suits their own duration without noticing why.

The stretch of the axis running towards the flower wall, with a flower arch on the left and tables with olive-green chairs on the right. — Looking towards the end of the axis: a flower arch on the left, shell-shaped armchairs in the middle and olive-green chairs on the right.

The arch language and dividers

Because the long space is open at both ends, there was no focus in the middle of the room. We turned the arch into a language repeating throughout rather than appearing once: the flower arch, the cage arch, the counter niche and the fan-shaped banquette back all come from the same geometry.

The second job of the arch is to divide. The pink railed arch gates in the middle of the room separate two seating zones without closing the view, giving a sense of zone between tables with no wall.

A repeating geometry is also a cost decision. Because the same profile can serve as arch, flower frame, mirror and railing in four different places, the fabrication collapses into a single item.

Brass ring pendants, arch panels and a fan-backed banquette repeating through the room. — The arch language repeating through the room: flower arches, brass ring pendants and a fan-backed banquette.

Floor and ceiling

The floor stays in two materials: plain pale stone on the walking line, patterned tile in the seating zones. The most expensive mistake a cafe floor can make is spreading one pattern everywhere; when a pattern describes no zone it is only noise.

Overhead, brass ring pendants repeat at even spacing. Height comes down through those rings: where a ring falls over a table the table gains its own volume, while over the axis the ceiling is left high.

After the cold white lighting of the mall circulation, the warm light here sets a second boundary. A guest passing the arch notices the colour of the light change — doing with light what a wall would otherwise do.

Pink railed arch gates separating two seating zones, with patterned tile and plain stone side by side underfoot. — Pink railed arch gates separating two seating zones, with patterned tile and the plain stone line side by side on the floor.

The separate private room

A room with its own door was set up beside the main space. The hardest customer for a busy cafe is a group that stays long and does not want to be overheard; hosted in the main room, that group is uncomfortable and affects the tables around it.

The language of the room was deliberately changed. Where the main space is pink and floral, here there is a green geometric pattern, a black-and-white optical wall and a dark marble floor. Creating a second atmosphere inside the same venue lets the private room be sold as a separate place.

An island of green marble was set into the floor beneath the seating group. The floor says where the table stands, so even when the room is opened up to other layouts the main group keeps its place.

In the private room: a green geometric wall, rose banquettes and an island of green marble set into the floor.

The end of the room facing the glazed front, with a pink wall, hanging plants and a long banquette table.

The black-and-white optical patterned wall with the row of pink banquettes opposite.

Decisions and common mistakes

Item	Settled in the design	Common mistake
Boundary	The edge of the venue is drawn with flower arches, floor pattern and light colour.	The boundary is left to a sign and the area reads as more mall circulation.
Facing the escalator	The first three metres were left as something to look at, with no tables.	Tables are lined up in the most visible spot and are the last to fill.
Order queue	The counter sits at the end of the room, keeping the queue behind seated guests.	The counter is placed centrally and the queue forms between the tables.
Seating type	Five separate seating types were set up, splitting short and long stays.	One type of table is repeated and the same area attracts one type of guest.
Long-staying parties	A private room with its own door and a different atmosphere was set aside.	Large parties are seated in the main room and the tables around them suffer.

Frequently asked

How is a boundary created for a cafe inside a shopping centre?: With three instruments: threshold, floor and light. Here the flower-covered arches define a threshold without stopping anyone, the floor pattern separates from the material of the mall circulation, and the light colour shifts from cold to warm. With all three working, a guest notices they have entered somewhere; a scheme that relies on a sign alone reads as a continuation of the corridor.
How many seating types should a cafe have?: As many as the dwell times you are aiming at. This project has five: stools, two-seat armchair groups, long banquettes, half-enclosed tables inside arched niches, and cage-framed private seats. The aim is occupancy management rather than visual variety; when someone arriving alone can sit without occupying a table, the same area serves more people.
Does every venue need a private room?: You do if you host large parties that stay a long time. Seated in the main room, such a group both restrains its own conversation and shortens the dwell time of the tables around it. A room with its own door removes both losses and can be sold as a separate product. Here the colour and floor of that room were deliberately kept different from the main space.
Do you work on venues abroad?: Yes, this project was prepared for a shopping centre floor in Jordan. The drawings and visuals are ours. A centre’s rules on shopfronts, fire and services differ everywhere, so we run that part together with the architect of record or contractor on the ground.

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