Aluminium-clad B131 Café appears "untouchable from the outside"

Angled sheets of anodised aluminium cloak the exterior of this minimalist cafe, designed by Chinese studio Jiangjie Office for an arts centre in Hangzhou.

Named B131 Café, the small cubic building sits within the wider complex of Brita131 Art Museum in the Xihu District, which is housed within a once-abandoned building retrofitted by Jiangjie Office.

Despite its compact size, the studio wanted to give the 45-square-metre cafe its own identity and "attitude" on the site, contrasting a warm timber-lined interior with a metallic exterior.

"The site was previously a service annexe to a larger building, almost invisible," Jiangjie Office founder Jie Jiang told Dezeen.

"Instead of amplifying its presence, we sought to give it clarity – an architectural object that could be noticed, not because of its size, but because of its structure and attitude," he added.

"It doesn't carry complex programs or loud forms, but it tries, through minimal elements and a precise structural logic, to establish a presence that can be seen, remembered, and used."

B131 Café is constructed from a timber grid of 12 slender columns raised on a low concrete plinth and lined internally with utilitarian plywood panels.

All of these materials and columns have been left exposed, framing a central service bar that is topped by a counter of stainless steel. Bench seating lines the cafe's perimeter.

A slim wall-mounted shelf sits beneath a letterbox window providing views to the north, while above the bar, a large skylight draws in natural light.

Sliding glass screens allow the front of the cafe to be opened up to the west, where a bench supported by scaffolding-style metal tubing sits beneath a narrow aluminium canopy.

Aluminium was chosen to give B131 Café's exterior a cold, sculptural look, but also for its ability to reflect light, both from the sun and from lighting strips that have been installed beneath each of the angled sheets.

"The exterior is entirely wrapped in anodised aluminium – smooth, cold, and visually abstract," explained Jiang.

"In contrast, the interior is lined in timber, with exposed beams referencing vernacular roof structures. It is warm and tactile."

"We wanted the building to embody both states: untouchable from the outside, intimate on the inside," Jiang continued.

Other cafes recently completed in China include a mobile pop-up cafe and bakery with walls made from grain sacks by FOG Architecture and a glass-walled cafe in Shanghai by Offhand Practice that "immerses" visitors in the surrounding park.

The photography is by Wen Studio.

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