AAP architects: Dallah

In Kuwait a place that felt warm and welcoming, peaceful yet dynamic, to reflect the ritual of serving an Arabic type of coffee and sharing moments.

Dallah is a traditional coffee pot used to brew and serve qahwat dallah; an Arabic type of coffee specifically known to the Gulf or the Arabian Peninsula region.

The ritual of serving qahwat dallah is about having and sharing moments with others; to slow down and savor the moment of being greeted and embraced.

Reflecting the traditions inherent in the form and act of serving the dallah, the architects together with the brand developers aimed at creating a place that felt warm and welcoming, peaceful yet dynamic.

The interior spatial organization of the shop and thus the customer experience are both governed by three main design elements; the display layout, the floating canopy, and the functional sidewalls. Each of the three elements pays a unique tribute to the traditions of the dallah.

Taking into account the norms of the brand’s operations and contextual constraints, a dual display and service counter layout was chosen; one counter located at the entry of the shop acts as a vitrine that displays curated ever-changing operations of Dallah on to the street and at the same time acts as a buffer to the interior of the shop. Housing the heavier operations of Dallah, the other counter is placed on the opposite interior end of the shop and acts as a focal point that draws people inside. Together both counters define an interior “heart” of the space where a round communal seating table in placed.

An asymmetrical arched form was designed to further accentuate the warm central “heart” of the shop and at the same time to define the exterior vitrine and entry experience. The asymmetrical white arch’s springing line defines two very different situations on either end; a smaller arch that gives more of a human scale to the outdoor space just before entering the shop flanks one side of the springing line while a larger more fluid arch expands into the interior of the shop giving a sense of intimacy and openness to the indoors.

Both functionality and form were taken into account in the design of the shop’s most prominent features; the sidewalls. While one wall pragmatically acts as a storage/display wall for all types of products, the opposite wall ostentatiously exemplifies the patterned brand by mimicking the geometric ornamentations found on traditional dallahs in three-dimensional form.

The materials chosen for Dallah represent both the color schemes of the brand of calm cool beiges, natural greens and sugar whites and the pragmatism seen in the baqala’s (local convenience stores) of past eras. A fresh green terrazzo floor, clean white marble counter tops and warm wooden floor-to-ceiling shelving together form the basic building blocks of the interior of the shop. The color saturated green floors and practical wooden wall shelving bring a sense of familiarity and warmth while the shiny white marble islands and countertops bring a sharp contemporaneous sense of refinement and sophistication.