Bradley Edwards Architect has designed Onyx Coffee Lab in Bentonville, Arkansas: a coffee bar, cafe, patio and kitchen finished with custom terrazzo tiles.
A cafe inside an art venue
The project started with the decision to place a coffee bar in the Momentary, a former Kraft Cheese factory converted into a contemporary art venue. The museum presents current artists through music, installations and performances, and the Onyx space was conceived as one more installation or performance within it.
Human and robot, past and present
The existing machinery throughout the museum gave the starting point. Onyx was first imagined as a meditation on the duality of human and robot, and of past and present.
Pink terrazzo and perforated metal
Where the museum is raw, the cafe is carefully curated. Shades of pink set it apart from its surroundings and immerse guests in the experience. Custom-coloured terrazzo tiles from the Mosaic Factory in Italy are combined with white perforated metal and glass, giving the interior a soft, luminous feel.
One bar, two kinds of service
A large glass coffee bar runs the full length of the space, serving both the small seating area and the museum lobby. The service itself plays on the human and robot theme: to-go drinks are made by a robotic pour-over or travel to the guest on a conveyor belt that runs through the room, while drinks to stay are made by a barista and handed over in person.
Project credits
- Project: Onyx Coffee Lab, the Momentary, Bentonville, Arkansas
- Architecture and drawings: Bradley Edwards Architect
- Terrazzo tiles: Mosaic Factory, Italy
- Photography: Keetun Pierce
- Source: Contemporist