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Kengo Kuma designs Taiwanese Starbucks out of used shipping containers

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed a Taiwanese café for the Starbucks coffee chain made from 29 shipping containers.

The 320 sq m, two storey building will be part of the upcoming Hualien Bay Mall on the east coast of the island.

The structure of the cafe is inspired by the foliage of coffee trees combined with “Dou Gong”, a form of traditional Chinese architecture where brackets are arranged like baskets of flowers to form an arch.

The interior of the shop pays tribute to the aboriginal Amis community with a brightly coloured wall mural.

The coffee house will join 45 other modular shops commissioned by Starbucks. Kengo Kuma has previously designed Starbucks Japan’s Fukuoka store and is the exterior designer for the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Tokyo, presently under construction.

Images courtesy of Starbucks/Kengo Kuma

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