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Forma Café in the morning, with timber tables under a pitched roof and long shadows across the floor.

Project 06 — Hospitality

Forma Café

Forty covers in a room that has to work at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. without changing anything but the light.

LocationBangalore, India
Year2026
Area1,800 sq. ft.
Location
Bangalore, India
Area
1,800 sq. ft.
Type
Hospitality
Year
2026
Scope
Design + Execution
Programme
5 months
§ 01 Project story

Forty covers in a room that has to work at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. without changing anything but the light.

A café that turns over four times a day needs to look different in each of those sittings without staff moving furniture. We built the change into the lighting and the surfaces: matte in the morning, reflective after dark.

The challenge

The unit is deep and narrow with a single frontage — the back third would have been dead. A raised platform at the rear puts those tables at eye level with the street, which turned the worst seats in the room into the ones people ask for.

Spatial planning

Counter and service at the front, banquette down one flank, communal table in the middle, raised platform at the rear. One aisle, wide enough for two staff to pass with trays.

Project team

Devika Raghunath, Farhan Qureshi

§ 02 The design Material palette

Five materials carry the whole project. Everything else is a variation on one of them.

Reclaimed TeakTables and counter front
TerrazzoCounter tops and floor
Ox-blood LeatherBanquette
Lime WashWalls
Patinated BrassRails and trim
§ 03 Room by room
01 — Counter

Counter

The first two metres of the room do all the work: order, collect, pay, and leave without crossing anyone seated.

Counter at Forma Café with shelves of coffee packaging and warm timber surfaces.
Pl. 02Front counter
02 — Room

Room

One long banquette holds the flank; loose tables can be joined into runs of eight without leaving the aisle.

Forma Café at service, with timber tables and chairs under warm ambient light.
Pl. 03Main room
03 — Platform

Platform

The rear third, raised 450 mm, so the back of the room sits level with the street outside.

Raised seating area at Forma Café with timber tables and wall-mounted planting.
Pl. 04Raised platform
04 — Evening

Evening

The ceiling is left unlit on purpose. After dark the room reads as a series of pools rather than one space.

Forma Café at night under low pendant lights above the seating.
Pl. 05Evening service
05 — Planting

Planting

Everything green is at head height or above — nothing on the floor to trip over during service.

Planting and pendant lighting above the seating at Forma Café.
Pl. 06Planting line
Custom furniture

Banquette, communal table and the counter are bespoke. Loose chairs are bentwood — chosen because they can be replaced individually for the next twenty years.

Lighting

Daylight until three. After that a warm 2400 K layer at table height only, with the ceiling left dark so the room appears to shrink around the tables.

§ 04 The plan 1,800 sq. ft., 40 covers
Fig. AIndicative zoning diagram — not a measured survey drawing.
Levels
1
Rooms
4
Orientation
Single east frontage
Footprint
1,800 sq. ft., 40 covers
§ 05 Gallery Select an image to enlarge
Forma Café in the morning, with timber tables under a pitched roof and long shadows across the floor.
01Forma Café — Hospitality
Counter at Forma Café with shelves of coffee packaging and warm timber surfaces.
02Front counter
Forma Café at service, with timber tables and chairs under warm ambient light.
03Main room
Raised seating area at Forma Café with timber tables and wall-mounted planting.
04Raised platform
Forma Café at night under low pendant lights above the seating.
05Evening service
Planting and pendant lighting above the seating at Forma Café.
06Planting line
Timber-lined ceiling and hanging light fitting above the dining area at Forma Café.
07Ceiling
The Salt Room dining hall with timber furniture, warm lighting and planting along the walls.

Next project — 07

The Salt Room

Restaurant · Goa, India · 2025