In South Korea’s third largest city Daegu, Starbucks has opened a new store in a 103-year-old traditional Korean house, or “Hanok”.
Hanoks date back to the 14th century, developed to accommodate life in Korea’s extreme warm and cold weather. The design features systems that cool wooden floors during hot summers and heat the inner rooms and floors during cold winters.
Originally built in 1919, Starbucks remodelled the Hanok to integrate the modern Starbucks experience, while also preserving the original structure and décor. The store features a quiet outdoor garden and two separate interior areas. The first area incorporates the traditional Hanok style, equipped with ground seating that faces the garden, exposed wooden beams, traditional wall paintings and giwa clay roofing. Its spacious and naturalistic interiors boast dry gardens that have been integrated into the flooring. The second area utilises a modern cafe style, equipped with sleek geometric tables and 120 seats.
To showcase and commemorate Daegu’s cultural and musical heritage, Starbucks also collaborated with Bang & Olufsen, a global premium audio firm. Within the store, customers can enjoy high quality music with coffee in the separate music listening area, or by the automatic turntable. Throughout the space, custom built high quality sound systems have been installed to provide a unique music experience and ambience. Customers can also purchase a Starbucks limited edition Bang & Olufsen portable Bluetooth speaker, which is exclusive to the store.
Starbucks’ unique Daegu store and its forward-thinking design adds to its other distinctive locations across the world, including its Hualien store in Taiwan built from recycled shipping containers and its Hradcany store nestled inside the ancient Prague Castle.
