Milky’s

Milky’s, Toronto

Batay-Csorba Architects, Toronto Photography: Doublespace Photography

In a hurry? Got somewhere to go? Milky’s wants to improve your day with caffeine. Occupying a space too small to linger in, they wanted the grab-n-go experience to be dazzling. It begins with wrapping the floor, walls and ceiling with 1,300 modular wooden panels and interlocking marble segments “typically reserved for the highly formal and repetitive patterns derived from traditional inlay decoration,” say the designers. “The modular logic of this system is instead used as a framework for disrupting such static patterning, with interlocking pieces of light and dark wood producing a high-contrast tessellation which shifts and realigns in a series of strata, enveloping the customer in a sort of ‘caffeinated’ space.” All other elements within the space become camouflaged within this graphic counterpoint; thin metal shelves slotted into the patterns; sleek white countertops; cabinetry and equipment powder-coated white to blend into the background; and floor to ceiling glass frontage, casting the interior in vivid light such that the dynamic patterning becomes the dominant focus.