Okkio Duy Tan Caffe
Okkio is a specialty coffee shop located in a small alley on Duy Tan Street. It occupies an old French colonial villa, an authentic half of a semidetached villa among a few that remain in the neighborhood. Duy Tan fondly recalls the memory of our beloved Saigon. Surviving the ups and downs of the city history, century-old parashorea trees stand tall along the pavements. Fortunately, the villa condition exceeds our expectation of time impact despite being quite aged.
Photography by © Hoang Le
Okkio means ?eye? in Italian. Okkio considers himself as an observer, in the nowness, in between what is to happen and what has been gone. Okkio space consists of the front villa, a new two-story block at the back and a garden. All are connected by an enclosed walkway. The space is a continuing dialogue between the old and the new. It contrasts by defining clear borders, or homogenizes by blurring joints. There is a conversation at every junction: at the demarcation between buildings and context; through the walkway coming from the old villa to the new block; between exposed old-grey-solid brick wall and sand texture painted new wall; at the replacement of raw galvanized steel for broken window frames, door frames as well as the old balcony handrails; even the stainless-steel surfaces that blur the definition of ?new? materials.
Photography by © Hoang Le
The stainless-steel and cooper brew bar occupies most of the villa first floor. It situates to the left from the...