A panoramic view of the café unveils its spatial rhythm: concrete floors, soft-hued woodwork, and geometric ceiling cuts converge around a sculptural wooden table with an open oval core.

Atelier tao+c Channels Shanghai’s Industrial Past in Blue Bottle Coffee’s West Bund Outpost

Words by Yatzer

Shanghai, China

American speciality coffee roaster Blue Bottle Coffee’s latest café in Shanghai continues the brand’s thoughtful engagement with the city’s layered urban heritage. Much like its outpost in the Jing’an District, housed in a late 19th-century townhouse, the new location in West Bund by atelier tao+c bridges the past and present, this time within the footprint of a former industrial facility. Underpinned by the studio’s signature utilitarian ethos, a considered palette of humble materials, straightforward construction techniques, and finely crafted details, the café’s design distils the essence and life of the former site into a quietly powerful abstraction, honouring its context through form, tactility, and rhythm.

Linear arrangements of light wood chairs and oval café tables mirror the rhythm of the architectural ceiling planes, culminating in a Blue Bottle logo subtly painted on the oak-paneled wall.

Photography by Wen Studio.

A panoramic view of the café unveils its spatial rhythm: concrete floors, soft-hued woodwork, and geometric ceiling cuts converge around a sculptural wooden table with an open oval core.

Photography by Wen Studio.

The barista counter takes center stage, rendered in angular concrete volumes and backed by warm wooden panels and exposed ductwork, blending industrial edge with architectural refinement.

Photography by Wen Studio.

Once home to the Shanghai Cement Factory, the West Bund has transformed from a logistics and production hub into a cultural destination. Flanked by a historic shipyard and facing the Huangpu River, the site offers a cinematic backdrop that the designers have folded into the experience through a pair of faceted ceiling forms, described as “canvases.” Suspended above the concrete bar and seating area, these inclined planes resemble windswept awnings. Raised at the edges, they frame views of the riverbank while suggesting movement, as if catching a breeze from the water outside.

Supported by slanted timber pillars, the “canvases” divide the open-plan café into two subtly distinct seating zones. Their asymmetry creates a sense of gentle rhythm, drawing the eye upward while concealing mechanical systems. Strategically placed cutouts, which double as vents, reveal glimpses of the building’s original concrete structure as well as the ceiling’s wooden support structure.

A detail view of the ceiling reveals a triangular cutout framing the raw concrete above, juxtaposing the precision of white plaster surfaces with the roughness of exposed structure.

Photography by Wen Studio.

An upward view captures the dynamic geometry of the folded ceiling, anchored by a single timber beam piercing an oval skylight—an architectural gesture that defines the café’s identity.

Photography by Wen Studio.

A close-up of the central communal table shows its unique construction—an oval form punctured by a structural wooden beam rising to meet the angular ceiling with sculptural precision.

Photography by Wen Studio.

A quiet vignette of the café features light oak built-ins and simple circular tables, evoking a Japanese-Scandinavian sensibility rooted in tactility and material honesty.

Photography by Wen Studio.

A quiet corner of the café reveals built-in oak shelving with carefully arranged ceramics and a unique circular table anchored to a central timber column, highlighting the space’s crafted simplicity.

Photography by Wen Studio.

A minimalist café counter in Blue Bottle Coffee Shanghai blends cool grey concrete with warm oak cabinetry and a sculptural timber column, set beneath a sharply faceted ceiling pierced by a circular skylight.

Photography by Wen Studio.

True to atelier tao+c’s approach, materials remain honest while compositions are left spare. A continuous wall of Douglas-fir panels along the café’s perimeter anchors the space. Functioning both as a partition and display, it accommodates shelving, entryways, and seating in one integrated gesture, its warm hue providing a tonal counterbalance to the cool greys of the concrete flooring and bar counter.

Constructed using prefabricated concrete modules as a nod to the site’s former life as one of Asia’s largest cement factories, the monolithic bar imbues the space with a sculptural monumentality. Topped with a sleek steel volume that adds a note of refinement, the counter’s cubic mass strikes a quiet dialogue with the faceted ceiling above.

As mentioned, the use of prefabricated concrete modules have also been used for the banquette seating lining the perimeter, their robust forms softened by pinewood seating surfaces and backrests. Outdoors, the same concrete modules reappear as stools and tables along the river-facing terrace, inviting patrons to linger with a cup of coffee while watching freighters drift along the Huangpu. This spatial continuity between the inside and out further deepens the dialogue between an industrial past and the crafted that form the very basis and heart of the project.

A close-up of the café’s concrete counter reveals precise geometric joinery and crisp detailing, where brushed steel, exposed aggregate concrete, and low-iron glass intersect with quiet elegance—illustrating Atelier TAO+C’s refined industrial minimalism.

Photography by Wen Studio.

Angular timber seating mounted on bold concrete bases forms a custom bench by the window, blending craftsmanship with brutalist pragmatism. Pale grey tables and chairs continue the interior’s sculptural restraint.

Photography by Wen Studio.

A serene café interior bathed in natural light, featuring asymmetrical ceiling planes, custom timber seating, and a central oval communal table supported by a dramatic leaning wooden beam.

Photography by Wen Studio.

The glazed exterior of Blue Bottle Coffee reflects the riverside cityscape as sculptural concrete seating clusters animate the forecourt, blending the café’s artisanal ethos with Shanghai’s modern urban rhythm.

Photography by Wen Studio.

Under a vast steel canopy on the Huangpu River, minimalist concrete benches and café tables echo the architecture’s industrial legacy, offering contemplative seating with panoramic views of Shanghai’s skyline.

Photography by Wen Studio.