Florian Steiner is one of the most renowned roasters in the metropolitan area Rhine-Neckar. When he planned to set up his new roasting facility in Heidelberg he came across a special space located in the ancient old town formerly used as a garage for vintage cars. From the very beginning, this beautiful space served as a source of inspiration and provided the perfect backdrop in order to create a unique and remarkable interior with a strong identity, which suits the process of roasting as well as complements the brand Florian Steiner Kaffee.

Two huge wooden gate wings separate the space from the outside and when both wings are opened the interior is entirely visible to pedestrians passing by. This fact gave birth to the idea of a vitreous production facility where every work step from roasting the beans to the point of packing them stays uncovered and visible to the visitor. To blur the border between in- and outside even more, the existing cobblestones in the first third of the space have been left untreated now zoning the clients’ area. The rest of the space serves as the production area and is separated from the clients’ one with a room-high glass screen.

Aesthetically the starting point has been the roasting machine itself, a beautiful Probat UG 22 colored in black grey and combined with stainless steel parts. In order to suit this machine, all other objects have been designed or carefully selected like for example the beautiful Porcelain Lamps with its delicate yet industrial appearance. In turn they have lead to the design of the wall-shelf displaying the different sorts of packages in the clients’ area. Suspended from the wall with steel wires, the shelf leans towards the client making every package palatable. The unpainted sandstone wall on the left underlines the raw and objective design concept and links to the old town quarter where the roasting facility is located at.

Typology: Workspace
Location: Heidelberg
Year: 2015
Photo: Thilo Ross