Cafe Grao in Bratislava by Alan Prekop.

At Cafe Grao, all are welcome. The mini cafe, located in Bratislava, was designed by Slovakian architect Alan Prekop on a shoestring budget. Welcoming the city’s alternative crowd through its doors, the concept was taken from the venue’s original name ‘hue’.

To highlight a 16m long kaleidoscopic pendant light, the interior was left exposed and raw. To complement this industrial feeling, the bar and seating are made from ordinary building materials including thermal insulation then shaped into discontinuous and deconstructed objects reflecting the interior shell.

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“Together with the scraped plaster, these materials created a kind of neutral shell [or] packaging in which we inserted the main element of the interior and the whole concept—the lightning,”explains Prekop. The LED lighting continuously changes colours, offering the interior a different character and atmosphere at every moment.

In the final touches, Prekop added a defining point of difference to the bathroom. He continues: “We decided to differentiate this part in terms of material since it also fulfils another function”. Covered inside and out with thermofoil—a material commonly used for air ducts—the silver walls reflect the light, strengthening the original ‘hue’ concept and adding a surprise element against the sterile backdrop.

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[Images courtesy of Alan Prekop.]