The distinctive personalities of Chennai's Fika—an amphitheatre, an orangery, a bakery, a café, and on the first floor, a community space and The Attic—all come together in an interesting interplay of indoor and outdoor, thanks to the profusion of light and greenery. There is even a set of cabanas, thoughtfully air conditioned to combat Chennai's humidity. Apart from the amphitheatre that opens in end-October, the rest of Fika was designed and completed as an adaptive reuse project in 5 months, with a soft-launch in August.
Initial Thoughts
Architect Mahendra Kumar of Studio 62 talks about how this café and community space was conceptualised, “The client, Pooja Sundar, wanted a space for people to enjoy nature. She wanted a space for families where alcohol would not be a necessity for people to have fun.”
The Concept
Fika, meaning ‘coffee time' in Swedish, is as much a social ritual as it is a contemplative behaviour. This space celebrates the concept of gathering, and eschews Scandinavian elements, in favour of a visual style with more warmth. “The style of the space is something of a hybrid—rustic chic. The vibe is relaxed and lounge-y, and the space itself is fluid and constantly evolving. It is also like an empty canvas and has the capacity to adapt to any events, like Diwali, or Halloween parties,” says Kumar.
Design Details
At first glance, you may not notice the elements that have gone into creating Fika. Wires on the ceiling arranged like a tree, brass objects embedded in the smooth cement floor, peacock chairs, and trees inside an enclosed air conditioned space are just some of the unusual touches here.
A driveway leads up to a 50- 60-year-old house on the right, that sits in the middle of the site. The front yard has a tree-lined amphitheatre that lends itself to events—book launches, live music, or for that matter, movie nights. The amphitheatre will have a separate menu comprising picnic fares, like sandwiches, salads, juices and baked items, and will be operational sometime around Diwali. Sundar quips in, “We have a perfectionist chef who refuses to give us the menu just yet!”
“The amphitheatre is here because these badam trees were already here. They created the space,” says Kumar. “Pooja took very specific care to pick the right property. Originally, only the old house stood in the middle, and we built around it. One of the briefs was also that we couldn't touch the main building.” Between the amphitheatre and the main building, sits a whimsical orangery aglow with numerous pinpricks of light, the shiny acrylic ceiling reflecting numerous pixie lights in the gathering dusk. It's perhaps the most breathtaking sight at Fika, like hundreds of glow worms having a tea party—it's easy to see why the orangery is popular.
Elements of Space
Kumar says, “The original plan for the orangery was to use it for meetings, but every other day, people want to book this space for events, preferring private sit-down dinners for 20 people.” This is, admittedly, Kumar's favourite spot at Fika, with the amphitheatre being a close second.
The main building houses a bakery that resembles a dolls' house made of white cardboard with black lines. Not even the ceiling fan is spared from the black marker lines that add a touch of make-believe. A children's play area to one side will soon have activities for children while their parents get some quiet time to themselves. The walls have murals by graphic designer, illustrator and muralist, Pavithra Muthalagan who has also worked on other spaces at Fika. Sundar even suspects that there's a unicorn that Muthalagan has hidden somewhere on the premises for children to find.
A Natural Paradise
Stepping into the enclosed backyard, it's easy to see that the heart of the property is this café with its eclectic seating arranged around the mango tree with a pizza kiln at its base. Along with chairs and sofas, the café also has a custom-made cage-seating in cane, for more intimate gatherings. There has been a conscious decision to have enough space between tables, to ensure privacy, which means the café can effortlessly seat more than the 45 that it currently does.
Next to the U-shaped counter around the tree, a narrow path leads along the side of the main house, back to the orangery. Along this path, is an enclosed air conditioned area with cabanas, where a spot of cane breaks the monotony of other forms of seating in each cabana.
I must know which is Sundar's favourite spot at Fika, and she doesn't disappoint. “That corner over there under two trees, a coconut and a mango tree. It's equidistant from everywhere—you can see everybody and still be tucked away. And you get some nice sunshine in the mornings.”
The element that ties the cafe space together, from the trompe l'oeil wall by Muthalagan inspired by Charles Correa's Cidade de Goa wall mural, to the blushing pink upholstery, is the pink staircase that references Wes Anderson's unique visual style. It's more of a hit than a miss, and there are plans to add a festive touch to it for Diwali.
Up the pink staircase, the top of the tree has lanterns hanging from its branches. Beyond the landing, The Attic has an exposed brick wall and another one made of found doors and windows in a distressed finish. Sundar shares her vision for The Attic, “In the city, what people need is space. We wanted to give a blank space for you to be whomever you want to be. This area can be absolutely anything you want it to be. If you want the space for a function, then it gets transformed into a festive space.”
The warmth of exposed brick extends to the area outside The Attic, beyond the landing around the tree. Sundar says, “This is more like a community space. We want people to gather to do things like painting, or stand-up comedy or poetry, reading etc. It's a space that's just away from the restaurant so that they can be slightly rowdy, but at the same time, still, be a part of it.”
All the Food and Fun
Chef Willi, a renowned name in Chennai's fine dining restaurant scene, is at the helm of Fika's kitchen, and the cuisine here is a mix of Continental with a dash of the Mediterranean. Salads, salad juices, slow pressed juices with no sugar added, all find a place on Fika's menu, along with the bread, all baked in-house.
As we trade analogies to describe the personality of Fika (‘Audrey Hepburn on a Greek holiday' is one of the more prosaic choices), Sundar adds a dash of quirk with her suggestion, “There's a children's' book called ‘The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher goes to school' by Laurie Halse Anderson and Ard Hoyt'. It's about a first-grader with wonderful wild hair.”
When I read the book later that week, I understood what she meant. Fika is unusual and unique, exactly like Zoe Fleefenbacher, with her one blue eye, one green eye and a headful of wild orange hair that has a personality of its own. Only, in Fika's case, it's the pink staircase, the mango tree and a unicorn at large.
ALSO READ:
