Money Cafe Pinkoo Pawn Shop | Archismith Co., Ltd.

The existing facade of this pawn shop was totally wrapped up with aluminium advertisement boards with almost no natural light and ventilation getting through at all. To make it worse, ac condensers are installed at the concrete canopy on the mezzanine floor behind these solid aluminium walls making the gap in between the layer of advertisement boards and the building’s actual facade very hot. The hot air, trapped inside since there was no way out, accumulated into heat build-up and slowly increased the temperature inside the building.   

To dissipate the heat from the ac condensers, since hot air naturally rises up, the upper part of the new facade is designed with greater porosity such as by the use of expanded steel sheets. For the main feature of the new facade, the design brief from the Client called for something of a luxury feel, something that would distinguish his business from others. Large panels of black laminated tempered glass are chosen due to the shininess of the material. These glass panels are tilted to let the hot air out. The service walkways behind, also made of expanded steel mesh to ensure the flow of hot air, make it possible for facade cleaning and maintenance of facade lighting fixtures from the inside.

The new facade of Money Café Pinkoo features 20panels of black laminated tempered glass. The orientation of the glass panels is alternating on each tier but their edges are all lined up. The golden aluminium cappings at the end of panels accentuate the vertical alignment of this facade design. The Client’s corporate colours are black, gold and pink, hence black glass, golden aluminium and pink facade lighting respectively.