A pop-up coffee shop. Built in a shipping container. Placed in a parking lot. The main requirement was to create a smoking corner outside an office building for the employees. The area allocated for this space was the parking lot of the building. We wanted to create a covered yet open space that could be used not only by the smokers but also by other employees for a coffee break.

This is why we found it very practical the idea of ​​a temporary construction that can be moved to any other spot on the site – a café in a container. A Standard 20′ naval container was used for this, which had replaced one of its long sides with a mobile panel.

All the ensemble – the container and the covered terrace – occupy four parking spaces, and what should have been a simple smoking area was transformed with the climbing plants, the wire form elements of the furniture and the permanent coffee aroma into an island where to spend the break between meetings.

To point out even better that the cafeteria should be a landmark on the flat space of the parking lot, its opening was framed with a profile made of corten steel sheet, which was a subtle reference to a factory’s silhouette. A little joke we made about the smoke coming out on the chimney.

Design: arch. Vladimir Mindru, arch. Irina Balanean / Yellow Office architecture
Photography: Vladimir Mindru