Jokopi MERR Café / ARA Studio

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Text description provided by the architects.Jokopi - MERR, a local coffee shop branch that is currently expanding in Indonesia, built its first drive-thru coffee shop concept during the Covid-19 pandemic. People tend to be warier of closed indoor spaces because of how easy it is to get infected. Therefore, the drive-thru concept is applied as a design response to create a resilient space for customers and to be prepared for a possible upcoming pandemic outbreak.Located on the side of Middle East Ring Road in Surabaya, Indonesia with a high vehicle density, Jokopi - MERR becomes an attractive sight for drivers by placing the entrance at the north which is the farthest point of the site from the sharp U-turn. To ensure the driver’s vista comes from the other side of the road, a setback is used to place the building for a better view. When drivers pass by, there is enough time for them to take a glance and turn to enter the coffee shop.In response to the temporal leasehold of the site, the whole parts of the building construction applied to a knock-down system which is modular, to begin with, resulting in more practicality for future reconstruction. To apply to knock down systems, material specifications become crucial to support its effectiveness. For that reason, a dry construction system and dry materials that consist of steel and uPVC sheet are used for its main structure and façade. Roof and walls are covered with translucent uPVC where edging details can be seen continuously as a monolithic form and when the sunsets, its façade emits translucent light transmission which glows the whole mass to attract customers.As Indonesia uses the right-hand traffic (RHT) practice, a drive-thru is placed on the right side of the vehicle which affects the whole mass program to maintain the flow of car maneuver for entering, parking, and exiting the site. Hence, this leads to a decision where a single mass is sliced into two masses, creating a gap in between mass for drive-thru circulation and experiencing sequential closure while waiting for coffee. Both masses act as a café, where one of the masses functions as a drive-thru window with an indoor area, and the other one provides a semi-outdoor area for natural air circulation and as a smoking area.