T · CAFE | LAAB Architects

T · CAFÉ is a self-service light-refreshment café in T. PARK, a sludge-treatment facility and education center in Hong Kong. T · CAFÉ transformed fender woods collected from the demolished Wan Chai Pier into different furniture. These fender woods were more than a hundred years old and had been immersed in the harbor for more than forty years, they could still be very useful even after the demolition of the pier.

We categorized fender woods into three types according to their levels of erosion and designated each type for different furniture. The most intact ones were sculpted into dining tables and long benches. The moderately eroded were for coffee tables and short benches. Seriously defaced woods were made into stools and a special furniture of what we called "Ocean Cubes."  "Ocean Cubes" preserved the eroded wood with ocean-blue resin. The idea is to return the fender wood into the ocean. Built-in chargers were also installed in the furniture and transformed the salvaged wood into the power supply.

Hong Kong is a highly urbanized and rapidly growing city. With a heavy focus on economic development and consumerism, things in Hong Kong are easily considered as "old" and "wasteful." In this project, we hope to use innovative design to show how “waste” can be transformed into something beautiful and “useful.” We also hope to preserve our collective memory, which is especially precious in a rapidly changing society like Hong Kong.