Happier Café: Paper Space in Taiwan by JC Architecture.

Happier Café in Taiwan by JC Architecture started with a discussion on what makes one feel happy – whether tangible or a feeling, from small pleasures to life conquests. Happier Café and Social Space developed as a place for change and evolution, where people feel comfortable, in turn acting as key players within the space. The design team believed each person sharing the space should be able to change and contribute to its creation.

JC Architecture imagined the space as an art installation, given the lease was granted for only six months – a space that was perhaps temporary, nonetheless imaginative and playful. Paper became an ideal material for allowing the users to express, build, and adjust the environment according to their mood. Paper became a simple tool that records the change of the space, as well as the symbol of an idea that each one of us can seek and manipulate their own search for balance and transformation.

Large paper rolls create a time machine installation, forming walkways, niches, and intimate spaces for coaching sessions, gatherings and relaxation. The cafe bar is designed as an open counter where users hand pick their snacks and prepare their drinks, and are trusted to pay and collect their own change, enabling and sharing the responsibility and maintenance of the space to the community – an overall feeling that directly connects the people and space together.

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[Images courtesy of JC Architecture. Photography © Zach Hone.]