Architects: kousou
Area: 300 m²
Year: 2025
Photographs: Kung Photograph
Lead Architects: Svetlin Petrov
Category: Coffee Shop, Renovation
Lead Team: Svetlin Petrov
General Constructing: Room Studio
Engineering & Consulting > Lighting: ERRELUCE
City: Kecamatan Lubuk Baja
Country: Indonesia
ITSUMO Dessert Shop in Batam, Indonesia, designed by kousou, transforms a standard ruko (shop-house) structure into a refined and contemplative retail environment. The 300-square-meter renovation employs a restrained material palette of black-stained stone, metal, and wood to redefine the experience of space and atmosphere. A central courtyard introduces natural light and rainfall, connecting the interior with the surrounding climate and creating an ever-changing spatial rhythm. The project was realized in close collaboration with Room Studio and lighting consultant ERRELUCE, emphasizing material honesty, environmental awareness, and design precision. Rooted in both the client’s emotional connection to rain and kousou’s sensitivity to proportion and texture, ITSUMO stands as a quiet counterpoint to Batam’s colorful, utilitarian commercial fabric.
The renovation of ITSUMO marks a deliberate departure from Batam’s visually crowded urban landscape. In a city where architecture often prioritizes efficiency and visibility, kousou proposed a project defined by restraint, intimacy, and emotion. Rather than competing for attention, the dessert shop cultivates stillness through material authenticity and precise detailing. The design reframes the ruko typology not as a limitation but as an opportunity to explore how minimal intervention can evoke depth and atmosphere.
The client’s personal story became central to the design narrative. As her first store and the brand’s point of origin, the site held symbolic value and demanded a distinctive identity. The brief called for a space that could embody both nostalgia and renewal. The architects responded with a composition grounded in black and brown tones, crafting an interior that balances contrast and warmth. This palette departs sharply from Batam’s bright commercial vernacular, offering a subdued presence that invites reflection rather than spectacle.
In its formal language, the Batam branch diverges from ITSUMO’s other outlets. While the Bali location uses red, fluid geometries to express movement, this project adopts angular precision and monochrome depth. Black surfaces and natural textures provide a sense of permanence and tactility. The architects drew from avant-garde Japanese fashion, particularly its capacity to convey complexity through layering and tone. Through this lens, the interior becomes a study in subtle variation where texture, shadow, and proportion replace ornament.
A defining feature of the project is the client’s request to “bring the rain in.” This poetic notion evolved into a technical and atmospheric centerpiece: a central courtyard designed to collect rainfall in a controlled manner. Hidden gutters and skylight details channel water inward, transforming a climatic element into an architectural experience. Light, air, and sound interact to animate the interior, blurring boundaries between the built and the natural.
Such a precise outcome emerged only through sustained collaboration. The architects, client, and Room Studio worked through multiple design iterations, testing materials and refining details until every surface achieved the desired balance of texture and tone. This iterative process demanded trust and openness, allowing the team to align aesthetic intention with construction reality. The exposed structure and handcrafted finishes reflect this shared commitment to authenticity.
ITSUMO ultimately demonstrates how architectural modesty can achieve cultural resonance. By reimagining a familiar building type through light, material, and emotion, kousou challenges the notion that small commercial projects must conform to visual noise. In its quiet confidence, the dessert shop suggests a new language for Batam’s evolving urban fabric—one that values atmosphere over display and meaning over scale.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Block C No. 1, Penuin Centre Complex, Jl. Komplek Penuin Centre, RW 06, Batu Selicin, Lubuk Baja District, Batam City, Riau Islands Province, 29444, Indonesia
The location specified is intended for general reference and may denote a city or country, but it does not identify a precise address.
