Starbucks‘ new double-decker drive thru restaurant and cafe in Taiwan’s Hualien Bay Mall was constructed using 29 recycled shipping containers.

Starbucks may be known for spelling (and occasionally misspelling) customers’ names on its containers but that hasn’t put the coffee superpower off containers per se. Far from it, in fact: re-purposing shipping containers into sipping cafes fits hand-in-glove with the firm’s environmentally-friendly Greener Stores framework, a program that aims to design, build and operate 10,000 greener Starbucks stores globally by the year 2025.

Containerment Strategy

Our featured Starbucks store is the first retail storefront to open in the Hualien Bay Mall, located in the Taiwanese city of Hualien. This city of just over 100,000 residents is located on the Pacific Ocean seashore in northeastern Taiwan, roughly 30 minutes by air from the capital city of Taipei. The store is designed to serve customers on-the-go via an integrated drive thru, or indoors where 320 square meters (3,445 square feet) of well-lit, comfortably furnished space fosters an atmosphere of peaceful relaxation. Website YA! Travel posted the images above on September 25th of 2018.

Cargo Coffee Cult

Renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma penned the store’s exterior design, shown above under construction in early 2018. This isn’t Kuma’s first espresso-shot, either: his name is written all over (figuratively speaking) a Starbucks store in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka and the highly anticipated Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Tokyo. Those two projects don’t involve the use of shipping containers, however, as Kuma has never worked with this “medium” in ANY of his previous projects.

Shipping Manifesto Destiny

Working with shipping containers poses certain challenges to architects, putting it mildly, but the jumbo metal boxes offer certain benefits. In the case of the Hualien Bay Mall store, stacking the shipping containers one atop the other resulted in a much taller main floor ceiling. The containers are also amenable to modifications such as skylights, which allow for the ingress of natural sunlight. Off-the-shelf shipping containers aren’t exactly known for being inwardly brilliant.

29 Containers 4 Cups

Dressing up the Starbucks store’s interior – aka, reducing the cold, harsh, shipping container vibe – took a colossal effort but the results speak for themselves. OK, we’ll speak a bit as well: the decor style was an homage to the rich cultural history of Hualien City. Colorful murals evoke the heritage of the Sakiraya Taiwanese aboriginal people who gave the town its original name of “Kiray”. Plush, comfortable customer seating areas provide scenic views of the rugged Zhongyang (“Central”) mountain range. Other graphic decor features illustrate the story of coffee, one of humanity’s most cherished beverages. Those coffee cups are cool, too.

‘Bucking Trends

The Starbucks “Greener Stores” initiative, announced on-stage at The Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, aims to save the company roughly $50 million in utilities costs over the coming decade. The framework is to be co-developed with leading environmental experts including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), while its ongoing effectiveness will be audited and verified by Scientific Certification Systems Global Services. “This framework represents the next step in how Starbucks is approaching environmental stewardship,” stated Erin Simon, Director of R&D at WWF US, “looking holistically at stores and their role in helping to ensure the future health of our natural resources.”

Containers, Caffeine, Contentment

The new Starbucks store at the Hualien Bay Mall in Taiwan is the latest cafe to be constructed from recycled shipping containers. In the United States alone, Starbucks has opened 45 modular cafes, pre-fabricated and built off-site. This construction method allows Starbucks to open stores in areas and regions that are not easily amenable to traditional store construction. At the same time, the company can minimize the environmental impact of construction while integrating reused, recycled and reclaimed materials in their designs.

Taiwan, West of Java

After a slow start, Starbucks seems to have embraced the concept of green business as appealing to its target demographic without abandoning the pursuit of profits. The push is coming from the executive suite. “Simply put, sustainable coffee, served sustainably is our aspiration,” states Kevin Johnson, President and CEO of Starbucks. “We know that designing and building green stores is not only responsible, it is cost effective as well.” Mull on that a while – while you sip a frappuccino, of course.

Iconic cities come to life in this custom wood table series, their resin streets and waterways glowing through grids of raised wooden architecture, all sitting on top of wrapping thin and dark steel supports.

Crafted by Wood Designs in Warsaw, this array of oak surfaces includes cultural capitals like New York, Berlin, London and Paris, but buyers can select a specific city or neighborhood as well.

In each piece, a layer of resin on top flattens out and protects the surfaces for everyday use, while red, blue and green resins are lit up from below, an effect making the roads and rivers look like retro etchings on a giant circuit board.

“The guiding principle of each of our products is that it is unique and also gives the interior a character in which it is located. I want my products users to give a sense of uniqueness. We believe that every detail matters.”

Made by power tool-maker Makita, this is the ultimate coffee machine to energize construction workers, charged by the same batteries already in use on work sites. The CM501D is designed to derive energy from plug-in, rechargeable, lithium-ion power sources that drive cordless screws, drills, saws and other standard equipment.

For those unfamiliar with them: these swappable systems (used by various companies) add simplicity and redundancy, allowing different tools to work off share batteries, so some can be recharged while others are in use.

The Japanese company behind this unusual battery usage boasts the mobility of the device, which can be brought to work sites that are not yet plugged into the grid. It can make about a half-dozen cups on a single 18V battery charge, from modular coffee packs or ground coffee It is convenient, requiring no paper filter (grounds can be poured straight in), compact, versatile and fast.

Makita’s first coffee maker went on sale in 2015, but the design was more conventional — it was less robust and compact (featuring a cord that batteries could be plugged into). The new model is made to me sturdier and safer, an all-in-one machine without any lines to trip over.

As a general strategy, this powering system opens the door to other similar ideas, too — anything needing electricity on a building site could be adapted to function in a similar way. Meanwhile, other toolmakers (like DeWalt, Ryobi, Bosch and Dremel) could learn a lesson or two from this manufacturer.

We know they come in a few shapes and sizes, but rarely do we stop to look at (let alone think to start collecting) the myriad unique covers that accompany our favorite hot morning beverages.

Louise Harpman works in the realms of architecture and urban design, and has developed a taste for this unsung type of everyday object. She has gathered over 500 different examples to date, constituting the world’s largest collection of its kind.

Kept in museum-worthy conditions, these covers represent different things to different people — they are symbols of capitalism and modern to-go culture. They also highlight a design evolution that has been anything but linear. Why, for instance, after all these years, have we not settled on a single solution?

There are simple ones with a hole for drinking, but there are variants with covers too, including one that pushes down into the cup to prevent splashing (shown above). And some of the complex ones make one wonder: why do they have all these little mountains and valleys? Sometimes it’s structural, but sometimes it’s just expressive.

Harpman has a larger point to make as well, about the design of everyday things. Showcasing her collection is a way to encourage people to look more closely at objects we pick up and throw away without a second thought. So before you buy and discard your next pumpkin-spice latte, take a moment to appreciate the lid sitting discreetly between you and your drink.

Sure, a Keurig can make you a cup of coffee pretty much instantly, but where’s the art? Where’s the romance, the portability, the control over the brewing process? These modern coffee and espresso makers aim to take bean brewing to the next level with features designed to appeal to a wide array of coffee connoisseurs, including travelers, backcountry hikers, wannabe baristas and design snobs.  There’s even a Brutalist concrete creation and a smartphone case that purports to heat up a shot of espresso with your phone battery.

ATMOS Cold Brewer

Looking vaguely like something you’d find in a laboratory, the new ATMOS cold drip coffee maker consists of two minimalist borosilicate glass bottles and a central stainless steel filtering device that produce five strong shots of cold brew. The setup takes just seconds – you pack the filter with finely ground coffee, screw it onto a bottle full of water, place the other bottle on top and then flip it. You can currently preorder the ATMOS via their Indiegogo campaign, with orders expected to ship by April 2018.

JIA Hand Drip Coffee

Deeming itself “the world’s first double-layer ceramic filter cup for hand-drip coffee,” the JIA’s simplicity is what makes it so attractive. The filter cup rests on a glass vessel during brewing to improve insulation, and then you’ve got a rich, steaming, easy-to-pour goblet of coffee waiting for you.

Brutalist Concrete Anza Espresso Machine by Studio Montag

Want to bring a little brutalism to your kitchen? Studio Montag’s stunning Anza espresso machine is not for the faint of heart with its seemingly solid concrete construction. But the Anza is actually lighter than it looks, and though it’s meant to be a visual centerpiece, it’s also highly functional, including IOT integration and programming abilities. It’s also available in white corian, and pre-orders are still available on Indiegogo.

MiniPresso Tiny Portable Espresso Maker

Now widely available on Amazon for around $60, the Minipresso almost seems too good to be true, but fans rave about how easy it is to use, and it’s literally small enough to fit in your pocket. No electricity or batteries are required – you just fill the reservoir with water, lightly pour your chosen coffee grounds into the filter and press the ‘semi automatic piston’ to hand-press your cup of espresso anywhere from your desk at work to the backcountry.

The Elegant GINA Coffee Maker

How smart is too smart when it comes to coffee makers? Do you really need yours to be respond to voice commands or order coffee grounds for you? The GINA looks for balance between smarts and simplicity with a built-in Bluetooth scale and an app that connects you to a library of brewing recipes and a community of likeminded coffee lovers so you can share your recipes, too. The rechargeable electronic components are hidden within the streamlined base. Choose from three brewing techniques: pour over, immersion and cold drip. It’s now available for $160.00 with the smart features, or $125 for the basic unconnected version.

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