Starbucks Reserve Roastery in New York
The highly anticipated Starbucks Reserve Roastery, New York, opens nearly 25 years after the first Starbucks arrived in the city. Located in the Meatpacking district and inspired by the history of manufacturing in the neighborhood, the Roastery is a thoughtfully designed work space which specializes in roasting small-lot Reserve coffee and blends. The space is designed with immersive and interactive elements, to bring guests closer to the craft of coffee, from roasting to brewing. The coffee roasting process takes center stage against an open space that encourages customers to explore their environment, leading to moments of discovery and encouraging curiosity.
The Reserve Roastery offers customers visibility to all aspects of the roasting process, with a 360-degree walk-around view of the manufacturing site.
Roasted beans are delivered via symphony pipes to a café bar where baristas handcraft guests’ “perfect beverage” in their brew method of choice.
The design of the Roastery offers a nod to the mercantile history of the Meatpacking district, celebrating the tradition and energy of the neighborhood. It is also intended as an innovation center that will develop the coffee beverages of tomorrow.
Built across three mezzanines, the Roastery creates intricate sightlines on every floor, encouraging visitors’ eyes to explore, complimented with an eye-catching ceiling of undulating copper squares that mirrors the exterior façade of the building.
The Roastery features a 10-foot statue of the Starbucks siren – the symbol of Starbucks inspired by classical lore. Local Brooklyn artist Max Steiner created the copper-cast sculpture of the siren emerging from the water.
A 30-foot tall copper cask holds freshly roasted coffee that needs to rest before being used in beverages. The copper cask was fabricated and installed by A. Zahner, an internationally acclaimed engineering and fabrication company known for their architectural metalwork.
Designed to elicit the effect of undulating ocean waves, each ceiling square is laced with copper lighting and acoustic features which animate the ceiling with the warmth of reflected copper.
Coffee plants, ferns and philodendrons in a custom living Terrarium bring some of the lush vegetation of Costa Rica to this New York interior.
Project: Starbucks Reserve Roastery New York / Chief design officer: Liz Muller / Location: 61 9th Avenue, New York, NY 10011 (corner of 9th Ave. and 15th st.) / Opening date: 2018.12.14
