Erasmus Café | A+noima Office

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Erasmus Café | A+noima Office

Information

  • Project Name: Erasmus Café
  • Practice: A+Noima Office
  • Products: Caparol
  • Completion year: 2022
  • Gross Built up Area: 172 m2
  • Project Location: Iasi
  • Country: Romania
  • Design Team: Alexandra Berdan, Ștefania Borș, Ancuța Costandache, Livia Pleșca
  • Clients: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași
  • Photo Credits: Livia Pleșca
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Excerpt: Erasmus Café, designed by A+noima, is a symbol: a place to socialize, learn, discover and dream. A spot where dialogue becomes international, enabling students from Iași to meet their colleagues from other fellow universities. La Balenă expanded its boundaries to accommodate the European standards. The design project proposes a series of interventions through which the café becomes more open to the public, more attractive and brighter – a space that evokes and stimulates the dynamics of student life.

Project Description

[Text as submitted by architect] For the students of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, La Balenă / The Whale (now called Erasmus Café) is a symbol: a place to socialize, learn, discover and dream. Located just a few meters away from a whale-shaped fountain, this place has brought together thousands of students from different generations.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
Bar area atmosphere © Livia Pleșca

Although the student campus has always revolved around La Balenă, from one point on, the café became obsolete, unable to satisfy Romanian and international students’ growing expectations and ambitions.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
© A+noima

Like anyone or everything that aims to survive, La Balenă understood that it has to adapt. Therefore, it went through a much-needed repositioning and rebranding into what we call today, Erasmus Café: a place for meeting, socializing, exchanging ideas, appealing to a more diverse audience. A spot where dialogue becomes international, enabling students from Iași to meet their colleagues from other fellow universities. La Balenă expanded its boundaries to accommodate the European standards.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
Outdoor perspective © Livia Pleșca

The design project proposes a series of interventions through which the café becomes more open to the public, more attractive and brighter – a space that evokes and stimulates the dynamics of student life.

We modernized the space, optimizing the flows and the furnishing and replacing the finishes in order to create an atmosphere that captures the spirit of the place – young, bold & brave. We decided to separate the bar/serving area from the sitting area.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
Bar area atmosphere © Livia Pleșca

The table arrangement is modular and can serve multiple purposes: firstly, it satisfies the specific function of such a place (serving a coffee or a tea, enjoying a croissant), and secondly, it can easily accommodate seminars, literary circles, book launches, small meetings, and parties.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
Sitting area atmosphere © Livia Pleșca

To express the new identity of the café, we had to fit the branding into the puzzle. From decorations that convey a sense of globalization (e.g., clocks set in different time zones) to symbolic gifts received over the years from Erasmus students, every detail speaks about the global soul of this café.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
Window area atmosphere © Livia Pleșca

We highlighted all these elements using a refreshing and stylish color palette: white, black, green, and orange-salmon accents. The perforated-plasterboard ceiling enhances the space acoustics and the overall comfort in a space where people can quickly move from quietly studying to socializing and vice versa.

Erasmus Café | A+noima
Sitting area atmosphere © Livia Pleșca
Erasmus Café | A+noima
© A+noima

We took advantage of the angled glass façade by creating more seating space next to the window, allowing the students to stay connected with the college campus and its vibrant life, to read or contemplate. This circular arrangement enriches the visitor experience, reminding of hip, cool cafés in Europe.

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