South Korean studio Unseenbird has designed a cafe in downtown Seoul where vegetables are grown in a glass-fronted cultivation room before being harvested, prepared, and served to customers on a conveyor belt.
Sik Mul Sung cafe was set up by agri-tech start-up N.Thing, which also runs a vertical farm on the outskirts of Seoul, to make the company's technology tangible and accessible to everyday consumers.
Local practice Unseenbird was tasked with designing the cafe's interior and wrapped large portions of its walls, counters, and fixtures in sheets of stainless steel. This is contrasted with decorative red rocks and a floor made of matching pebbles, in reference to N.Thing's ambition to build a vertical farm on Mars.
The cafe's space-age theme is also reflected in its futuristic green perspex surfaces, which are played off against textured plaster walls.
Sik Mul Sung's focal point is a brightly lit, glass-fronted cultivation room where rows of vegetables grow in a vertical farming system designed by N.Thing. When customers place an order, the vegetables are harvested and used as ingredients for salads and ice cream.
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