More than a cafe, the Union Blindern is designed as a restaurant, bar, café, meeting place and gaming lounge with table tennis, billiards, shuffleboard or boardgames. It can also be adapted to activities such as pub quizzes or concerts. The custom table tennis tables can be used as a dining table, curtains can be drawn for private parties. When the stage is not in use, it can be used as seating and the furniture can be re-arranged for a banquet with seating for up to 200 guests. In other words, the design contains a flexibility that should satisfy any social need. We sourced most of the furniture and lamps from old storages at the Blindern campus, and reupholstered and refinished chairs, sofas and tables to extend their life. We made some coffee tables out of concrete and old books, which adds a quirky charm together with our open book lamps. We designed seating along the windows, as well as bookshelves that work as space dividers.

Photographs by Elisabeth Aarhus