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San Francisco Loves Sightglass Coffee

Instant classics are sometimes made with a shared design vision and a couple of vintage German made roasters. This is definitely the case here.

San Francisco Loves Sightglass Coffee


BY

May 25th, 2015


An imposing 22kg Probat coffee roaster takes centre stage in a unique, stripped back warehouse setting in San Francisco’s SoMa area, the new location for the flagship outlet San Fran coffee heroes Sightglass.

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The site is based in a 650sqm workshop, a former former sign maker’s area, and has been skilfully converted by local firm Boor Bridges Architects (BBA).

Where there was once a non-descript building, now coexists a perfect balance between coffee manufacture and retail consumption, where the customer is treated to an artisanal roaster experience like no other.

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Seating arrangements are arranged like box seats at a music hall and perimeter bench seating in the open plan main floor. The ‘in-your-face’ attitude of the café underlies the owners core belief of honesty in the craft of coffee making, something architects BBA were keen draw out in the brief.

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The back-story of how the two coffee loving brothers came to work with BBA reads like an integral bit part in the rise of popularity of specialty coffee and aficionados in a country that is synonymous with the drip filter.

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With a second standout industrial warehouse shell to work with, the architects had an opportunity to further refine their aesthetic as well as retain existing features such as full height multi-pane steel sash windows and original beams.

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What started out as a friendly, same-neighbourhood-association between architect and client in 2007, has led to two of the city’s best examples of great design meets serious coffee.

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Boor Bridges Architects
boorbridges.com

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