Brick Bakery
| Client | Bread & Hearth Pte Ltd |
| Program | Interior Refurbishment (Food & Beverage) |
| Area | 100 m² |
| Status | Completed |
| Team | Kevin Lim |
| Irwin Ho | |
| Photography | Khoo Guo Jie |
| Year of Completion | 2014 |
Brick is pushed to its boundaries as a building block and brand identity for an artisanal bakery.
Nestled in the heart of the former red-light quarters of Keong Saik Road, Singapore and amongst gentrified shophouses resides ‘’Bread & Hearth’’-an artisanal bakery.
Taking branding cues from the bakery’s name, brick was chosen as the ubiquitous material to construct most of the spatial concepts. Bricks are predominantly used as architectural building blocks. In this instance, the material configures itself to form both exterior/interior, structural/non-structural elements in the form of frontage, counter tops, ventilation holes, furniture, partitions and floor. The limits of the material are tested with both linear and double curvature geometries, construction joints and tiling patterns.
Programmatically, the functions of seating, display, service, kitchen and back of house are distinctly lined up in a linear configuration due to the nature of the shop house. The spatial sequence upon entry is almost funnel like and slowly opens up to a full-fledged brick wall with a geometrically challenging coffee station. Each block of brick counter houses a distinct function (Bread, Viennoiseries, Cashier/Control Centre, and Coffee Station) and is staggered to permit more standing space and interaction with the baked products. Bricks are strategically removed from the dividing kitchen wall to permit both smells and visual sight-lines to the inner workings of the kitchen.
To permit a greater flexibility in the arrangement of bread displays, pegboard was used to line an entire wall. Custom canvas shelves were also designed as miniature hammocks to display the bread in linen bags, creating a softer and playful contrast to the hard edged brick modules. In reference to the character of the shophouse, the underside of the wooden stairs was intentionally expressed and reinterpreted as the menu board for the bakery.
The craft in artisanal bakery was taken as a reference for the details in the shop which included a variety brick tiling methods and also reflected in the choice of custom furniture. The free-standing tables and stools take reference from the traditional craft of constructing furniture with mortise and tendon joints, further adding to the atmosphere of craft and detail synonymous with the craft of baking.
