Ai Cafe, Japan travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises spa and resorts

Ai Cafe is located in the main tourist street in Naha capital of Okinawa, Japan. The cafe is four-storey building situated in Ukishima Dori which is also a home of many trendy boutiques and galleries where young people culture meet.

Ai Cafe is facing the side of a bland convenience store onto which all 4 retail units had to face including the cafe. The key elements of the building are: a 25m long, 5m high perforated concrete block screen, ubiquitous to Okinawa-which enclosed a balcony access to the 2^nd floor while screening off the convenience store, electricity and telephone wires running along the street. The screen with its pixelated pink orchid pattern creates an internal world for the cafe while letting the air and light into the building.

A four storey tower at one end of the building allows it to be seen from the main Kokusai Dori giving it a strong presence on the main road, while the low perforated concrete block screen gives the project a more comfortable scale on the narrower Ukishima street.