A school and a showroom dedicated to coffee culture
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A school and a showroom dedicated to coffee culture

Diemme Academy

Gherardi Architetti

A school and a showroom dedicated to coffee culture
By Editorial Staff -

Dedicated to the world of coffee, Diemme Academy is a place where people come on a journey to discover coffee roasters, traditional and super-automatic machines for coffee beans, pods and capsules, grinders and a host of other tools. This 600 sq. mspace designed by Gherardi Architetti is located inside the headquarters of Caffè Diemme, a coffee roasting company based in Albignasego, near Padua. Operating worldwide, the company was initially founded in 1927 by the Dubbini family, the third generation of which is now running the firm. Located on the second floor, the new Diemme Academy structure is a combined customer showroom, a world-certified training school for industry professionals, and a workshop for research into coffee and the world of cocktails and pastries.

The Academy is arranged around a central pathway, off which five classrooms lead. Furnished with tables and chairs, this pathway is dedicated to displaying Diemme products and receiving guests and customers who, from here, can see activities taking place inside the various classrooms, without interfering. In the barista training room, monolithic brushed stainless steel workstations equipped with all the necessary equipment are oriented toward the teacher’s desk. The Brewing Room, dedicated to alternative extraction techniques to espresso, offers group lessons on three fully-equipped long tables.

Unlike the first two more technical rooms, the Automatic & Capsule room is intended for household products, and is therefore designed like a contemporary kitchen, with Castellavazzo stone cladding and Canaletto walnut bases.

The Roastery & Research lab is a space for experimentation, where beans are studied under two different types of lighting: white with a color temperature of 5,000 K, and red. To enable this, the room is equipped with a blackout system of curtains and sliding wooden panels, which make it possible to create the right conditions both for studying coffee and hosting international competitions.

The training pathway concludes with the Food & Beverage room, designed for clients keen to enrich their offer by adding quick dishes and cocktails. The Academy also features a room dedicated to packaging, where the coffee is first stored and then packaged, a large auditorium for meetings and seminars, and a central patio, clad in black metal panels on which the logos of the brands marketed by the roasting company are emblazoned.

Although it is for the most part concealed, the design features a great deal of technology. The space has, on the contrary, been kept clean and essential, combining with a palette of soft and neutral colors. The Academy has many small rooms for storage, and technical compartments for equipment, designed to look like totems in gray lacquered wood. Dominated by coffee processing equipment, which is the true star of this interior design, the classroom walls are glazed to enable communication among them.

Location: Albignasego, Padua, Italy  
Client: Caffè Diemme
Completion: 2019
Gross Floor Area: 600 m2
Interior Design: Gherardi Architetti

Photography by Marco Zanta, courtesy of Gherardi Architetti

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