DIG THE LINE BOTTLE & BAR by Puddle
Kyoto, Japan
DIG THE LINE BOTTLE & BAR | Puddle | photography : Takumi Ota
DESIGN NOTE
‘parasitism’ concept for THE FIt-out
iconic custom-made 8 tap handles
Japanese cedar covered circular counter
photography : Takumi Ota
words : Reiji Yamakura/IDREIT
Tokyo based design studio Puddle has designed a craft beer bar ‘DIG THE LINE BOTTLE & BAR’ in a newly redeveloped commercial building named ShimPuhKan that uses the historical heritage building Kyoto Central Telephone Exchange in Kyoto. For Puddle, it was the third development with the owner Sakahachi after ‘Before 9’ (Kyoto, 2016) and ‘Another 8’ (Tokyo, 2017). DIG THE LINE named after their concept ‘Finding craft brewers and connecting people with beer’, and the designer created the space with ‘lines’ as a key element.
In the bar counter area, the timber-lined interior is anchored by a stone-covered beer server with the eight unique custom-made handles. The handles, ordering by length, were common designs for their sister bars. For DIG THE LINE, partly black dyed clear acrylic rods were installed on the warm grey Ashino-ish stone wall.
The designer Masaki Kato recalled that they built a circular counter to allow customers to walk around the counter naturally. Also, they carefully thought about how to get passersby to recognise the bar from the street. Since the bar is a tenant in a newly built building, the interiors and fit-out were developed by the concept of ‘parasitism’. Based on the unique idea, they installed a small table with glass block legs and rustic unfinished walls.
The bar has beer canning machines for take-away and refrigerating showcase inside, making it a unique place to be used as a craft beer bar as well as a bottle shop.
DETAIL
Puddle designed a unique built-in beer server with 8 custom-made octagonal handles. These handles were made of partly black dyed transparent acrylic rods.
Canning machines were installed to offer their craft beer for take-away.
Based on the ‘parasite’ concept, small standing tables were built surrounding pillars.
The designer created simple furniture with cross laminated cedar panel and grey felt.
For the cedar-panel-made DJ table, Kato designed custom-made retractable monitor speakers.
A historic building Kyoto Central Telephone Exchange (architect: Tetsuro Yoshida) was converted into commercial building ShinPuhKan. For the redevelopment project, Kengo Kuma and Associates supervised architectural design.
CREDIT + INFO
Name: DIG THE LINE BOTTLE & BAR
Designer: Masaki Kato, Yujiro Otaki, Chayo Shinozaki / Puddle
Lighting plan: ModuleX
Kitchen plan: Maruzen, Sanyo
Sound plan: WHITELIGHT, Riverfuse
Graphic design: Takram
Custom-made acrylic handle : Hyodo Kogei
Construction: &S co.,ltd.
Location: 586-2 Karasumadori Aneyakoji-sagaru Banocho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto
Owner: SAKAHACHI INC.
Completion date: May, 2020
Floor area: 76.57 sqm
Main use: bar
Mateials:
floor/mortar + metal plate (chromate plating)
wall/ unfinished plaster board, wood wool cement board, glass block
furniture/ Japanese cedar made cross laminated panel(J panel) + felt
counter/ Japanese cedar + plaster countertop
built-in beer server/Ashino ishi stone
