As the name suggests Here & Now is a space where time neither flies nor stops, it just lazes around for you to enjoy your PRESENT. Be it food, books or board games the café is all about having a relaxed & good time.

Thus we set out to make a quaint humble space with the warmth of a home and yet humility of a café, a place so designed that guests could enjoy the presence of a community and yet cherishes the bliss of solitude.

The café is carved out of 3 tiny residential units, put together, on the first floor of an existing bungalow. The design is compact and cost-effective and most of the doors and windows which were available after breaking open the existing walls to connect the 3 units have been innovatively reused as frames and a small library unit.

These large frames have strips of Calvin & Hobbes and are placed all over the café. Existing door frames have been retained and fixed with clear glass to convert them into large picture windows. At the entry on the first floor is a random framework, in wood which is punctuated with small black boards used to highlight the days specials, marking the entry to the cafe.

On either sides of the entry are the doors to the existing residential units. The frames have been retained and clean glass with the brand name etched on them. This gives the visitor a view of the café before actually entering. At the entry is the reception desk which leads to the waiting room, the kitchen and the main dining hall.

The main dining hall is a couple of steps down and has two large windows which lets you enjoy the beautiful Bangalore weather. The walls are covered with a white brick pattern and the roof is tiled with a white painted truss. The only dead wall was activated by a large Mario Miranda caricature with an exposed support framework in front.

The dining hall leads to a small deck with metal sheet roof and vertical planters to partially shield the area from the street below. On the other side of the reception is a small room with a raised wooden platform which can be used for larger groups to sit and eat. This leads the waiting room which has a random seating platform running on two walls, a foosball table and a carom board.

The furniture is distressed white to gel with the walls and the upholstery matched to the doors and windows which have been painted aqua. A simple yet elegant, soothing yet striking, contemporary yet with the old-world charm design is what makes ‘Here & Now’ a space where people would like to come back time and again.

Design: Choreography of Spaces
Photography: Arpa Dutta