Druzhba Coffee

The Iridescent Wall

The most demanding fabrication challenge on the project was the large-format mild steel cladding wall near the entry. Shevchenko specified a multi-stage chemical patina to produce a colour shift across gold, amber, copper, and blue-green tones within a single panel surface. At this scale, consistency across panels was the critical constraint. The patina process had to be controlled closely in the shop; variation that could be corrected on a small sample piece becomes permanent once applied to full-height cladding.

Shadow-gap reveals dividing the panels were shop-fabricated before delivery, so that panel-to-panel alignment was fixed in the controlled environment of the workshop rather than resolved on site. Once installed, the panels were sealed with clear protective lacquer to arrest further oxidation and hold the colour at the intended range.

The wall is positioned on a secondary surface near the entry, not on the main bar back wall. Against a space that otherwise runs on white tile and raw concrete, the patinated steel reads as a discovered detail rather than a declared statement.

The WC Box

At the bathroom threshold, I Am Design specified a complete material shift. The white tile and exposed concrete of the café give way to a continuous walnut enclosure. Bricble built the box from an MDF substrate with quarter-cut walnut veneer finished in matte lacquer. Every wall-to-ceiling corner is mitred. No edge trim was used.

The LED source is routed as a recessed shadow gap behind the panel plane itself, not behind the mirror. This required the panel depth to be managed precisely so the strip remains concealed while the light reads as emanating from the wall surface. The open walnut vanity below is fabricated from the same substrate and veneer, with a stainless steel backsplash strip marking the transition from tile to timber at the sink zone.

Counter, Banquette, and Partition System

The bar counter runs the full service width in white HPL over moisture-resistant MDF. Fabricated in two sections, it was joined on site with concealed fixings to produce a continuous face and top with no visible break.

The custom banquette was shop-assembled as a plywood carcass with a stainless steel kick-plate plinth integrated before delivery. Final alignment and anchoring to the polished concrete floor was completed on site.

The floor-to-ceiling green steel partition and mirror system runs from the entry vestibule through to the seating zone, dividing the plan without enclosing it. The same powder-coat profile appears across partitions, mirror surrounds, and pendant canopies, coordinated as a single fabrication scope.