VICTOR BAHNA
A Cathedral to Coffee
Summer 2022
Location: Seattle, Washington
Professor: Stephen Duff
Process
This project was based all around coffee, and particularly espresso machines of the past. The history of coffee spans centuries, but the espresso has become a staple of modern coffee culture. Working within Seattle, a city famous for its coffee scene, I was tasked with designing a museum for a collection of historic and antique espresso machines. Since the site was located in Ballard, Washington, the footprint for the building was already set, and the main challenge was figuring out how to arrange a large museum for coffee machines in such a way that did not infringe on valuable retail space.
The façade and street appearance in general wound up being a major influence in a myriad of details and features of the building. Given the espresso's definitively Italian history, I decided that my museum building should pay homage in some way to historic Italian architecture. I chose the Duomo di Siena with its black-and-white striping as a basis for my fenestration and façade features.
By the time the design was finished, I had a strong desire to continue working on some of the details of this building. Long after the studio was done, I took my design into another class, where it was a strong design for me to draw details. Doing these exercises allowed me a much stronger understanding of what my building was.
Final Result
