An open and sustainable cafe. Early BKK by Spacecraft

Description of project by Spacecraft

Early BKK started with a strong intension and passion of Kaytita Chaisuksiri, to create a community café with truly green and sustainable concept in her neighborhood. She found a site location in her village where is a strong living community in Bangkok. In this community, mostly big families with all generations including pets, therefore Early BKK aimed to be a tangible space where can be accessible for all.

Unlike most of the café and retail business which always think about making profits. Early BKK, in the other hand, think about how to introduce recycle and green concept and lifestyle to the visitors and neighbors. Seeing many problems arising with regards to waste management these days, upcycling materials that have been overlooked are taken to important parts of the design.

Since statement of Early BKK is very clear, Spacecraft started to do the research about upcycling materials and trash around neighborhood. And found that the most familiar trash that can be recycle and reuse are different types of containers, such as milk cartons and glass bottles. We decided to use these waste containers as the main materials throughout the design, from architectural façade to interior finishing and furniture.

We worked together with a factory to produce a ‘re-board’ which is a board made from 100 percent of small cut pieces of used milk cartons. Re-board was used in most in the interior space such as door, ceiling, chairs and tables. To control over all color scheme, we carefully selected color of used milk cartons only in orange and warm colors scheme, to match with handmade brick tiles floor.


Early BKK by Spacecraft. Photograph by Thanapol Jongsiripipat.

Beer bottles are another main reused material we used in many different ways in this project.  Obviously on the facade, around 600 used beer bottles were placed in the metal rings structure of the building. They created stunning effect of lights and shadow during days into an interior space, as well as tell good story of Early BKK’s objective from the exterior appearance.
 
Some of used beer bottles are broke down into pieces, and used them as main component of terrazzo counter working top and toilet floor.  Some walls are made by bumping bottles into concrete wall, creating interesting wall patterns and texture. We called this “Bottles fossil” since the production and final look is similar to the fossil by leaving traces on the wall.  Moreover, we added some small details by using trash such as a used galvanized iron oil tank as a basin counter , and  used glass bottles as a door knob.

Early BKK is a small 2-storey building in the corner of road. The entrance at the corner is a small double space courtyard with a big tree and pet parking area, offering a welcoming and friendly vibe. 1st floor is a main coffee bar including coffee machines and slow bar, with few seats. Retails shelves for refill products, home coffee equipment, pet products and some second-hand clothes are in the back of coffee bar area. 2nd floor is all seating area, designing with large window on both sides for well ventilation. This room is designed for multipurpose uses, that can be transform into a workshop room.


Early BKK by Spacecraft. Photograph by Thanapol Jongsiripipat.

The management of the cafe is completely based on green and sustainable concept. For example, “no straws”, “no plastic cup” , “bringing your mugs get discount”, and waste separation. Solar cells panels were installed on the roof as the main energy source.  Early BKK aimed to create lesser waste and responsible for whatever carbon footprint we created and encouraged everyone to join this effort.

In the end, Early BKK are an inspiring showcase of how interesting upcycling and waste materials can finally created. People might come here for a coffee, but will definitely go back with some changes of their mindset about waste and recycle concept. Believing in small intension can make the world a better place,  Early BKK prospected to be a small part of creating some changes in the society.