jones | haydu have designed the Coffee Bar, a cafe in San Francisco that features scorched wood siding.

The primary ive for this tiny cafe in the heart of downtown San Francisco was to bring epicurean level coffee at a rate and speed to meet the Financial District’s demands while simultaneously revitalizing a stretch of sidewalk that has been fallow for over twenty years. Coffee Bar serves as a workshop to explore, experiment, and embrace the trends of the coffee industry.

The cafe sits at the entrance to Saint Mary’s Garage, located centrally on the block of Kearny Street directly across from the Bank of America plaza. This stretch of sidewalk has been plagued by vacancy: adjacent lies a neglected lot, and the space itself has been empty for at least twenty years.

The cafe sits at the entrance to Saint Mary’s Garage, located centrally on the block of Kearny Street directly across from the Bank of America plaza. This stretch of sidewalk has been plagued by vacancy: adjacent lies a neglected lot, and the space itself has been empty for at least twenty years.

Utilizing the Japanese Shou Sugi Ban technique, the exterior wood siding is scorched, a process which inherently prolongs the life of the wood. Above the opening, the scorching fades into the wood’s natural color. On the left, at pedestrian level, the scorched wood wraps to the interior, becoming the main intervention: a black surrounding the baristas.

This black becomes a room within a room, emphasizing the artistry of the barista through a minimal use of materials and high efficiency lighting. The blackened steel counter provides a stark backdrop for the finished product, and will patina over time.