Proposal, 2020.

Nestled into a narrow NYC Storefront, the Pastry Cafe offers the comfort of a warm hearth with a new fast-casual baked foods experience. The baking process is on full display, as customers line up for freshly baked meals. New York City has a well established history of immigrant led businesses that offer a range of traditional baked goods made with care, quality, and innovation. The Pastry Cafe seeks to continue this tradition, while embracing the modern to-go experience, and expanding on it for a mask-wearing, social-distancing, protesting New Yorker.

A long undulating stone surface, which accommodates all the parts of preparation, baking, and serving process, anchors the design and greets all incoming patrons. The performance of kneading, rolling and baking, along with the warming glow of an oven, offers the customer an intimate visual experience of the craft and precision that goes into making the shop’s baked goods. The stone surface, meant to accommodate the parts of the process that require hand kneading of the dough and handling of the freshly baked pastries, is offsetted with gently textured oak to create a warm and modern feel

Renderings: Nishant Jacob