Project Year 2019

The T2 coffee & bar is located on the pedestrian street behind the Town Hall of Ioannina, near the historic center.

The idea of creating a café with a specific theme belongs to the owner, whose main occupation is the refurbishment and sale of old VW van T2s, hence the name of the store, which the G&Z archlab office asked for, the architectural design that would followed by reference to that particular model.

The focus of the G&Z archlab office was to highlight the owner's desire to use a vintage element such as this particular car model, designing a café in an area where short and take away coffee is dominated by many public services without however creating something spooky with lots of decorative elements, which in a space of 25 sq.m. they would give nothing more than a visual fatigue.

Το κατάστημα στο οποίο  έγινε ο σχεδιασμός ήταν ένα μικρό καφενείο σε κτίριο χρονολογίας άνω των πενήντα ετών, με δάπεδο μωσαϊκό, τοίχους βαμμένους με λαδομπογιά και κουφώματα ξύλινα βαμμένα, τόσα χέρια όσες και οι επιχειρήσεις  που είχαν περάσει όλα αυτά τα χρόνια.

The design store was a small cafe in a fifty-year-old building with mosaic flooring, oil-painted walls and painted wood frames, as many hands as the businesses that had gone through all these years.

The choice of materials during the design was intended to create a warm space that would allow customers to have a pleasant stay in the cafe.

Due to the small surface of the store, the metal structure with the mirrors was mounted from the ceiling to give the feel of the larger space, but without covering the whole view due to the store's shape.The pressed cement mortar on all surfaces except the floor was chosen to give a garage style in combination with the bar-car, but which was harmoniously tied to the wooden elements that descend to the stands and door frames, after which the paint was removed with which was painted, satin varnish in the color of walnut.

Photos Leonidas Bakolas