Our smallest project yet required micro space planning, attention to craftsmanship and some out-of-the-box thinking.
– Kevin Lim

Studio SKLIM have created a compact café in Singapore using the concept of negative space to carve out seating booths, countertops, display shelves and overhanging canopies.

The café covers an area of just 28sq m (301sq ft) but accommodates an experience and retail corner, a take-away counter, seating booths and a counter for conducting workshops.

The central counter block is cast in concrete and is designed to merge into the floor via gentle curves.

Its upper section is suspended from the ceiling and features two "experience circles" into which customers can duck to smell different coffee grounds and tea products.

The counter is shaped in such a way as to provide places for customers to sit and stand while keeping them in close proximity to the coffee-making process.

Among the constituent elements are a powder pink concrete countertop cast in 11 sections, a countertop for takeaways formed by using a special fabric formwork and semicircular metal tables that project from the walls.

Using an idea inspired by decaying buildings, cracks were cast in the concrete countertops in which for plants to grow.

Kevin Lim, founding principal of Studio SKLIM, said: "Our smallest project yet required micro space planning, attention to craftsmanship and some out-of-the-box thinking."