Diner Just Loaf Bangalore

In typical urban plot typology, the building was fenced on both sides by adjacent buildings leaving only the street in front and the sky above, free to grow into.

The possibility of a building planned around split levels presented itself out of this impending verticality.

Additionally, the operation of enshrining the roof added much needed floor area for dining purposes thereby making the building commercially viable and worth the premium real estate value of a plot in urban Bangalore.

The roof was anchored to the ground structurally by the vertical column, simultaneously linking the community tables at each level while also becoming an aesthetic element.

The street is brought into the building with a modified threshold that doubles up as a vegetated buffer and coffee counter – an activated front yard.

The balcony railings on the first floor transform into a high table presenting another vantage point to the street.

The linking of the community tables is further emphasised by a whimsical use of mirrored surfaces to double up the space and create an illusion of a continuing volume.

The pillar also reflects the playful and kitschy nature of the design and becomes an ever changing, ambient lighting element, bathing the interiors in bursts of pop colour.

The choice of colours seem to reminisce the vibrant, quintessential pub culture of Bangalore, while the black and white chequered flooring brings American diners to mind.

Within the constraints of a confined space, the material palette manages to expand and enhance the volume within, often deluding the customers into experiencing a deceptively spacious room.

The continuity of the same materials on the exterior and the intelligent use of glass creates a seamless linkage of spaces inside and outside.

Natural light filters into the lower levels which otherwise would have been muted and dimly lit. Even at the lowest level, customers are given the rare glimpse of the overhead sky through the puncture and read the passage of time through the day.

For an unadorned space, shifting shadows and waning daylight become ornaments, a performative spatial play. Like an impressionist painting, the foliage of the rain tree now becomes a permanent exhibit on the glass roof.