For a decade, this corner of Oslo’s historic Kvadraturen quarter served a quiet, functional purpose: it was the showroom for Magnat Kaffehus, a commercial coffee supplier known for outfitting the city’s cafes rather than serving its public. Snohetta has now flipped that logic entirely. The result is Elan, a coffee bar that treats the ritual of brewing as something worth watching, hearing and standing inside.
The move makes sense on paper: take a company with deep expertise in sourcing and roasting and give it a physical, public face. What Snohetta actually built is more ambitious than a typical retail fit-out. It is a full sensory environment, built from oak, cork and sound, that turns the counter into the main event.
A counter with no back
The defining architectural move is a simple one: there is no conventional bar separating staff from customers. Instead, a circular counter in stained oak sits at the center of the room, with everyone, baristas and guests alike, gathered around it rather than facing off across it.
Rising from that counter is a sculptural volume of solid cork, carved organically in 3D and heat-treated to deepen its color and grain. It reads less like furniture and more like geology, a warm, matte counterpoint to the precision of the dark oak surrounding it.
“Rather than creating a conventional counter where guests and baristas stand on opposite sides, we wanted to create a new center point for the interaction. There is magic in creating curiosity around everyday routines. One way of achieving that is to shuffle the pieces around a little”. Peter Girgis, Interior Architect, Snohetta
A palette built from the coffee cherry
Every color choice traces back to the anatomy of a single coffee cherry. Its deep red skin sets the tone for the space’s darker notes, while the silvery membrane and turquoise-green raw bean beneath it surface in one striking gesture overhead: a torus-shaped speaker installation suspended above the counter, finished in the same oxidized turquoise found on the copper detailing of the building’s original brick facade.
That installation is not decorative. It plays a bespoke soundscape composed by Jonas von der Fehr, delivered through a directional horn so the music changes depending on where a guest stands and how long they linger. It is engineered to be discovered gradually rather than performed at.
Cork is a richly textured, acoustic material that brings warmth to the interior. It is matte, warm and porous, offering a tactile quality we were particularly drawn to. It is also a breathable and renewable material.Marlene Fenger Vedal, Head of Interior Architecture, Snohetta
Furniture that knows its place
Custom pieces crafted by Henriksen Snekkeri extend the cork and oak language into the seating areas, but they are deliberately restrained. The idea was never to compete with the counter or the ceiling installation, both of which were designed to remain the clear focal points in the room. A private back room, reserved for meetings and small gatherings, holds Snohetta’s own Array modular sofa alongside carpets from Ege, a rare quiet moment inside an otherwise busy sensory scheme.
The branding follows the same logic. Snohetta developed Elan’s full visual identity, built around the signature turquoise and paired with deeper browns, under a concept the studio calls “boundless.” Microtypography and organic patterning keep the identity abstract enough to reward a second look rather than settle for a single obvious reading.
Why it matters
Elan is a small project by Snohetta’s usual standards, a footprint measured in square meters rather than city blocks, but it makes a strong case for what a hospitality space can do when every material decision answers to a single concept. Nothing here is generic. The counter, the cork, the color and the sound all trace back to the same source: the bean itself, taken apart and rebuilt as architecture.
Elan Coffee Bar Kirkegata 7, Oslo, Norway Design: Snohetta (Interior Architecture, Product Design, Brand and Experience Design) Client: Magnat Kaffehus Carpentry: Henriksen Snekkeri / Cork: Corkinho / Lighting: Anker and Co Photography: Pernille Sandberg
