Flagship Starbucks designed by Japanese architect opens in Vancouver (PHOTOS)

The new Starbucks design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

The Starbucks Coffee shop at the base of Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver is boasting a new chic, open concept look.

After months of construction, the new interior design by internationally renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has opened, revealing a complete replacement of the previous old wooden hut-like design.

There is a new staff counter and kitchen area positioned around a tower column within the three-storey-high office lobby atrium.

The new Starbucks design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Across from the counter, closer to the lobby’s expansive floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to Canada Place Way, is a single, continuous curved black table for the coffee shop’s customer seating area.

The new Starbucks design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

This table, made from carbon fibre, is anything but a conventional design. It has a thickness of just a few millimetres, and it is suspended by an array of tension cables attached to the atrium ceiling. The cables also pierce through the table and are anchored to the floor.

The new Starbucks design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

Looking down from above, the staff and customer seating areas appear to be two identical half moon-shaped areas that together form a large circle.

The new Starbucks design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver. (Uncle Bill / Google)

In Vancouver, Kuma is known for his collaborations with local developer Westbank, which owns and manages Shaw Tower.

The architect and developer’s largest project together is an upcoming 43-storey tower at 1550 Alberni Street, which features a “carved” design of “two emphatic scoops that form deep balconies furnished in wood.” The tower is set for a 2020 completion.

Kuma is behind the highly acclaimed design of the new Olympic Stadium being built in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Games.

The new Starbucks design by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma at Shaw Tower in downtown Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan / Daily Hive)

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