All too often international retail brands are accused of rolling out their cookie cutter concepts in foreign markets, with no regard for local culture, customs or immediate environment. So Starbucks’ new cafe in Dazaifu, Fukuoka, Japan, stands as testimony to how a global corporate can get it right – and gain international exposure for doing so. The Dazaifu Tenmangu is one of the most important shrines in Japan, each year drawing some 2 million visitors via a narrow street. It was built
back in 919 AD and in the words of architecture practice Kengo Kuma and Associates, “has been worshiped as ‘the God for Examination’” ever since.
All the buildings along the main path to the shrine are only one or two stories tall – this is not the typical commercial business district or shopping mall location where most Starbucks around the world are to be found. Which is why Starbucks gave KKAA a broad brief to design something truly unique in the 210sqm shop space.
And they did.
The interior and entrance of Starbucks Dazaifu are made from 2000 stick-like parts ranging from 1.3 metres to four metres in length and six centimetre sections. Put end to end the sticks would stretch 4.4km!
“We had experimented the weaving of sticks for the project of Chidori and GC Prostho Museum Research Center, and this time we tried the diagonal weaving in order to bring in a sense of direction and fluidity,” explained a KKAA spokesman on the company’s website.
“The project aimed to make a structure that harmonises with the townscape, using a unique system of weaving thin woods diagonally.”
KKAA says the style of connecting and angling the sticks has its roots in the traditional architecture of Japan and China.
“This time the method was greatly improved in combination with state-of-the art technology so that people are brought further into the architecture. It is a fluid, cave-like space.”
If it wasn’t for the distinctive Starbucks logos at the entrance, you would never know this was a Starbucks cafe at first glance. It is truly unique, not just for the US coffee giant, but for cafe design in general.
With Starbucks, and fellow US-based QSR giant McDonald’s, becoming increasingly braver in their retail designs, the challenge is now out there for every global retailer to prove their format does not need to be based on a one-size-fits-all design.
