You might have already experienced their stunning, boundary-pushing take on cafe culture, but not know who is behind these evocative, made for Instagram locations. Bone would like to keep it that way. Unlike others, they would rather their work do the talking.
Since it was founded in early 2018, Bone has remained a two-person practice. Coming from complementary frameworks of architecture and interior design, the duo’s work in residential and hospitality sectors is consistently elevating the region’s home-grown design scene with their well thought out, immaculately finished projects around the region.
A keen sense of collaboration prevails throughout their projects across the UAE, where clients become family and craftsmen become teachers.
The studio’s interest lies in approaching spaces through confronting form-finding and social interactions. A space unfolds with people at its essence — function comes second if not last. It allows these spaces to adapt, add, shed, or even change their program or activity without impacting social dynamic nor the build. Spaces with given ephemeral functions that, however, retain embedded grounded identities.
Air
Of longitudinal proportion, the nature of the space led to the framework of the layout — animated by horizontal and vertical volumes.
Air Speciality Coffee was designed with a conversational approach — the coffee bar and seating banquette in parallel to one another, creating a spatial narrative. The coffee bar embodies the subject of conversation — an open island punctuating at the heart of the space and exhibiting the process of coffee making.
Barriers have been shed to enhance customer inquisitiveness. Concealing and exposing the coffee equipment strategically was the anatomical driver to the bar’s structure and subsequently, the flawless dynamic of flow for both the user and the consumer. The rigid stainless-steel finish of the bar and banquette impulsively led to the levitation of both components to convey airiness.
Hoof
Hoof embodies a brutalist reinterpretation of countryside equine architecture where the physical discrepancies between noble, interior, and exterior materials, as well as utilitarian and natural finishes, play an integral role in defining a sensorial architecture.
As the driving organ, the coffee bar is defined as a self-sufficient, deconstructed series of monolithic stainless-steel blocks that, through their fragmentation, allow for an enhanced appreciation of each different coffee making process.
Perpendicular banquettes finished in lime facing either side of the bar confirm the focal point of the space and ensure a flawless spatial dynamic.
Immersing one in an environment that through its subtle spatial planning, minimalistic architecture, earthy materiality, detailed construct techniques and mechanisms, will make one feel familiar yet intrigued by the implicit yet bold reinterpretation of a horse stable, broken down to its bare purpose, and raw evocations.
La Petite
La Petite, an intimate haven with a sense of coherence — one with equal emphasis on the inner and outer spaces. Inspired by Al Ain’s arid landscape, the space’s seating and working height hierarchy was shaped — allowing a diversity in seating arrangements which accommodates a direct visual connection to the garden, creating privacy and eliminating obstruction of view.
The seating arrangements were derived from traditional Emirati floor majlises as well as casual, laid back cafe seating. The design intent was to redefine the coffee bar’s volume as a sunken low monolithic sculpture, that serves multiple functions as well as break the conventional barrier between staff and visitor gathering them all in one single open space.
The depressed monolith allows a more humble and personal interaction between standing staff and seated visitors as they meet at eye level. This subtle play of heights is reminiscent of a host welcoming and caring for his/her guest within the confines of their home.
