Scandi style upgrade for ECA café
ECA Cafe undergoes dramatic transformation to become a contemporary and welcoming venue for dining and study.
Edinburgh College of Art’s (ECA) Ecafé in the Hunter building at Lauriston Place needed a serious overhaul to bring it up to the same standard as other cafés across the University estate.
ECA briefed the Estates Department to design a pared back, Scandinavian inspired environment for the new café. This has resulted in the walls being stripped to reveal the raw materials used in the buildings original construction and using wood, tile and concrete as features. The colour palette used for the interior represents the five different faculties within the College of Art.
It has been designed to be a multi-purpose facility so can be used as a gathering space as well as for larger events. The ECA 2018 Revel is being held there and it will also be used for the Degree Shows.
A range of different seating configurations are suitable for dining, socialising and individual and group collaborative study with lots of power sockets available.
The extensive menu focuses on offering the best produce from Scotland and the UK with both a hot counter “Grab and Go” counter for those in a hurry.
The café refit took just over three months to complete and is an excellent example of great teamwork. Mariaje Ross-Vugts, from ECA Estates Development, Ian Macaulay, Assistant Catering Director from ACE, Gillian Scott, Project Manager from the Estates Department and Lee Boyd Architects formed a close knit team to deliver a project that has dramatically transformed the old café into a contemporary and welcoming venue for dining and study.
Tessa Giblin, Director of the Talbot Rice Gallery had this to say: “Congratulations on the new ECA café! It’s brilliant: looks hip, yet durable, clear, yet chic-but-not-too-chic – perfect for ECA. And it was packed this lunchtime, with chat going on amongst colleagues, students, visitors: it’s exactly what ECA needed.”
Additional work to the exterior of the building to create a new entrance and outside decking area is close to completion. The café opens on Monday 28th May to the public for the first time.
May 2018