Private Members’ Club Cafe 私人會員俱樂部咖啡廳

The new members' café

We were commissioned to design and oversee the construction of a members’ café within a former retail space on the building’s ground floor, transforming the unused space into a new food and beverage outlet whilst relieving capacity pressure on other venues. The design brief offered the opportunity for a highly collaborative venture with the club’s talented team of chefs, which focused on the implementation of a feature front-of-house kitchen.

The new café was designed to foster authentic interactions between members and front-of-house staff, especially baristas serving the club’s signature coffee blend. Key service elements like the vitrine, barista bar, and counters feature eye-catching materials and traditional fluted detailing to emphasize the customer experience.

To enhance intimacy and evoke a European feel, food prep areas were reoriented toward the front-of-house. High-performance finishes were introduced to meet food safety standards, while a bespoke colour palette ties together layered fabrics, upholstery, staff uniforms, and branding.

Soft curves shape the space, with a circular ring light above the central banquette echoing in the ceiling to draw focus inward.

Freestanding tables around the curved banquette reflect the building’s façade, ensuring privacy, ample circulation, and accessibility. A herringbone timber floor radiates from the centre, transitioning into European marble to define service and seating zones.

Natural light floods the café through large street-facing windows. To balance openness with member privacy, bespoke etched glass subtly obscures the interior while maintaining a bright, airy ambiance.

Minimising impact

Our highest priority for the enhancement plan, aligning with the club’s needs and values, was to provide solutions with minimal impact or disturbance to members and their enjoyment of the club.

By phasing works around off-peak periods and avoiding concurrent outlet closures, further planned alterations will be carried out without detracting from the ambience and traditional values of the club.

The enhancement plan unlocks space within the building, relieving pressure and improving accessibility through its most congested points, resulting in increased capacity and improved utilisation of venues, including greater flexibility for private functions. Other key benefits and improvements include a private dining rooms and a new wellness centre.

Whilst primarily focusing on improvements for members, the project has considered the staff who are vital to the successful running of the club. With staff facilities already at capacity, the plan outlines a series of necessary upgrades to improve comfort, boost employee satisfaction, and prioritise health, wellbeing, and morale. Since its publication, the first identified project in the enhancement plan, a members’ café on the ground floor, is now in use.