Le Cha (D)
Vienna, Austria
Tea Shop
October, 2020
The second Le Cha boba shot occupies a kink on the ground floor of the Donauzentrum shopping center. Unlike its forerunner near the busy Mariahilferstrasse – a space that reduces the presence of the kitchen to a minimal aperture in an otherwise white room dominated by fluffy white bench noodles and neon ceiling lights reflected on a mirrored cornice – the second iteration of the Le Cha chain attempts to present a black, or rather, blue hole in the middle of the bleached-out mall atrium. The kitchen occupies most of the retail space: a polygonal offset of the surrounding walls, clad in indigo back-painted glass. A strip of red glass reveals views into the boba laboratory within. The walls are clad in blue mdf panels interrupted by a horizontal strip of red led light, a datum cutting the blue space at the midpoint of the kitchen glazing.
Location: Vienna, Austria
Principal use: Tea Shop
Total floor area: 50 m2
Number of stories: 1
Design team: Chieh-shu Tzou, Gregorio S. Lubroth, Katia Simas
Photos: Vilma Pflaum