Relaks Café. Cafè and bicycle repair shop

The creative conversion of a vacant store in Warsaw has a double green value: recovering abandoned urban spaces and creating a places to repair and sell bicycles, the consummate sustainable means of transport.



The designers from SuperSuper and MOKO ARCHITECTS teamed up to work on an existing space in the centre of Warsaw. A children’s clothes store was vacant and had the potential to be turned into something new: a café and bicycle repair shop/store.



The designers decided to retain the wood panelling and terrazzo tiled floor, and they went for sustainability in the created space, using scraps of different types of panels for both the bar counter and for the benches by the windows.



This expedient gave the space a strong and iconic visual impact . The decision to create a “chalkboard” wall behind the counter and the use of white as the key colour draw attention to the sound-proofing false ceiling made from recycled materials.



The space is divided into three zones: the café with the bar, an open space including the bathroom, which can also be used for art exhibitions, and the bicycle store/repair shop.



An urban space has rediscovered its raison d'être, indeed Café Relaks is a new meeting point for the city’s green community.

Designer: SUPER SUPER: Hanna Kokczyńska, Jacek Majewski http://www.supersuper.pl/ MOKO ARCHITECTS: Marta Frejda,
Michał Gratkowski http://www.mokoarchitects.pl
Location: Warsawia, Poland
Photography by: Mikołaj Molenda, Jacek Majewski