INTERIOR DESIGN CAFE SOUTHSIDE COFFEE

Southside Coffee Shop is not merely a café, but a space “designed to breathe” — where light, materials, and spatial layout come together to tell a modern yet gentle story. CO-IDB approached the project with a mindset that balances user experience and practical operational efficiency, creating a space that stays true to minimalist principles while remaining rich in character.

Project name

Southside Coffee

Scale

300m2

Service

F&B

Location

Ho Chi Minh

PROBLEMS WHEN designing Southside Coffee Shop

Southside Coffee Shop aims to create a modern, minimalist café space that remains warm and welcoming. The client set high expectations: the space needed to strongly emphasize functionality—similar to contemporary office designs—while also maintaining a distinct style that makes it a comfortable and tranquil setting for meeting friends. The café’s long and narrow floor plan posed a design challenge, but at the same time opened up opportunities for CO-IDB to innovate and transform the space into a cohesive work of spatial art.

Design proposals for each category

The Southside Coffee project was developed with the aim of creating a café space that carries a distinctive identity—approachable yet capable of standing out within a modern urban setting. Co-IDB partnered closely with the investor from the very early stages, from researching the target customer profile and analyzing site characteristics to developing the overall spatial concept. The design places strong emphasis on emotional experience: light, materials, sound, and even scent were carefully considered to create an atmosphere that feels relaxing, welcoming, and naturally connective.

Key Design Highlights

Key Design Solution

CO-IDB adopted a modern minimalist style for this project. The space is organized with an open layout and minimal partitions, making extensive use of natural light and greenery to create an airy, seamless café environment. Neutral tones are used as the primary color palette, harmonizing with the minimalist furniture and high-quality materials.

Functional zones are thoughtfully arranged:

Entrance: A double-height façade featuring large and small rectangular insulated glass panels allows abundant sunlight to flow in without causing heat discomfort.
Small-group seating area: Located immediately after the entrance, this area takes full advantage of natural light from two large glass openings at the front and above.
Coffee counter: Positioned at the heart of the café, the counter follows a modern minimalist design language with clean rectangular forms, neutral colors, and a refined combination of wood and brick materials.
Large-group seating area: Designed with long tables and wooden chairs, clearly expressing the modern minimalist interior design language.