For those of us in the design community who are making annual pilgrimage to Milan, design week is simultaneously a wonderland and a battlefield, and Italian cafes with excellent coffee are a godsend. Humanscale has taken it up a notch this year by taking over a local Milanese café for Fuorisalone and transforming it into the RE:CHARGE Café.

Promoting a harmonious blend of work and sociability, the RE:CHARGE Café is envisioned as a nature-inspired urban oasis that physically and mentally re-energise visitors.

“I’ve been visiting the Salone for nearly 20 years – jetlag, meetings, continuous exploring – puts a strain on one’s immune system,” says Todd Bracher, Acting Creative Director of Humanscale and the designer of the RE:CHARGE Café. “We are offering an environment that is designed to retune your body’s clock and to provide an opportunity to experience some of the latest technologies and products we at Humanscale are exploring.”

Some of these latest technologies and products are the Trea Chair, which mimics the instinctive recline of the human body, and the glare-free Vessel Light.

The RE:CHARGE Café concept is also inspired by ‘Engineered Nature’, a recent concept (identified and developed by London-based trend forecasting studio Franklin Till) which draws on humans’ inherent connection to the natural world and the health benefits of being exposed to nature.

“All of nature is beautiful, and at the same time all of nature is completely functional. This concept is core to the Humanscale brand and the inspiration for the RE:CHARGE Café in Milan, a space that embodies functionality, simplicity, and well-being, whilst at the same time is still very beautiful,” says Bob King, CEO and Founder of Humanscale.

The RE: CHARGE café features a communal table with state-of-the-art charging stations outfitted with biological lighting, a healthy bar serving specialised drinks dubbed the ‘Green Shots’ for rejuvenation of body and mind, and an air-purifying wall designed by vertical agriculture specialists Vertical Field.

The RE:CHARGE Café opens at Via Solferino, 18 in the Brera district from 4 to 9 April 2017, serving breakfast, lunch, aperitivo and light dinner.