LOCAL FISH COFFEE / Devolution

Architects: Devolution
Area: 200 m²
Year: 2024
Photographs: Zou Xunkai
Lead Architects: Jiansong Tang, Qi Wang
Category: Coffee Shop, Adaptive Reuse, Interior Design
Design Team: Lin Chenghui, Wang Xiaomei
Construction Team: Rulin Deco
Clients: LOCAL FISH
City: Quanzhou
Country: China

LOCAL FISH COFFEE, a café designed by Devolution, occupies a former ice-cutting room beside an old ice factory on a coastal dock, where fishermen and swimmers once intersected in daily routines. The transformation preserves the raw industrial character of the site, retaining sea salt-corroded walls, exposed steel bars, crane structures, and walls densely marked with boat numbers, crew contacts, and owner names. The design maintains the building’s original spatial proportions, including narrow doors, staircases, and small turning platforms, while inserting large windows that frame the port views. One former ice platform was recessed into the first floor, and another elevated to serve as a small exhibition space. The designers applied subtle refinements in details to balance the roughness of the original structure. Adjacent to the café, the frame of a dismantled ship has been repurposed into a shed structure, where local fishermen’s colorful nets are stretched, creating a shaded gathering space shared by fishermen, winter swimmers, rescue volunteers, and coffee drinkers.

Swimmers came ashore while fishermen, carrying plastic buckets filled with daily essentials for heading out to sea, boarded their boats. Their paths often crossed between two small buildings. The space now known as LOCAL FISH was originally an ice-cutting room adjacent to the ice factory. For many years, it supplied ice to fishing boats preparing to depart. Today, it functions as a coffee shop, offering coffee to visiting strangers. Motorcycles frequently pass through the area. Suntanned local men standing in the corridor on the second floor of the deteriorating building across from the ice factory observed the scene and remarked, “LOCAL FISH, damn! We already have so many of those,” referring both to the fish and the café’s name, “and they still want more,” followed by, “This is a coffee shop,” and, “Do we get a discount on coffee?”

How should a café that emerged on the dock through the transformation of the town be understood and integrated into the local context? This was the shared question that the operators of LOCAL FISH, Yasan and Amei, and the designers needed to resolve at the outset. After numerous challenges, they ultimately prevailed over a competing proposal that aimed to paint the space pink for photo appeal. Their focus remained on preserving and restoring the building’s original character. This included maintaining walls corroded by sea salt, exposed steel bars, ice-making equipment, professional cranes, crew contact numbers painted on the walls, and the densely written names of ship owners and fishing boat numbers that make up the port’s complex informational network.

Originally used for processing ice, the small building possesses a distinctive scale and spatial character. This scale was echoed in the design through features such as narrow doors and staircases, compact passages, and small turning platforms. At the same time, large windows were introduced to bring views of the surrounding port into the interior. The building’s original lifting platforms, once used for transporting ice, were repurposed: one was recessed into the first floor, and the other was raised to the second floor to serve as a small exhibition space.

A more restrained approach was taken in the detailing to ensure compatibility with the rough surfaces while still conveying a sense of quality. The selection of lamps, furniture, and artworks by the owner further contributes to the decorative character and appeal of the small building. Adjacent to the two structures, the frame of a ship was dismantled and reassembled to form the structure of a shed. Colorful fishing nets, handwoven by local fishermen, were stretched across the frame and shimmered in the sunlight. This shaded space is shared by people waiting to board boats, those fishing, members of the rescue association, winter swimmers, and coffee drinkers.

Beside the two small buildings, the frame of a ship was dismantled and reconstructed to form the structure of a shed. Colorful fishing nets, woven by local fishermen, were stretched across the frame and glistened in the sunlight. This shaded area is shared by individuals waiting to board boats, those fishing, members of the rescue association, winter swimmers, and people enjoying their coffee.