Berlin turns blue: Aera Bread opens a second store

Right on Rosenthaler Platz, the architectural firm Gonzalez Haase AAS designed the new store of the gluten-free bread manufacturer Aera Bread and created an unmistakable spatial wonder in ultramarine.

The architectural office Gonzalez Haase AAS designs the branch of Aera Bread in Berlin-Mitte

Actually, it is impossible to walk past the large window front at Rosenthaler Platz. A luminous ultramarine blue universe literally attracts the visitors. And then you're standing there, in the second branch of Aera, a gluten-free bread manufacturer in Berlin, and suddenly you have to decide between sourdough brioche, oat cookies or crusty bread.

The shelves for the baked goods are made of robust, electropolished stainless steel.

The Aera Bread story began in 2014 when founder Ava Celik was diagnosed with celiac disease. Life without bread was out of the question for the trained actress, so in short order she began baking her own gluten-free bread. Two years and hundreds of sourdoughs later, she had her perfect bread recipe in hand and opened her first store in Charlottenburg.

Dividing the 13-meter-long space is a continuous, diagonal bar.

In September of this year, the second branch opened its doors in Berlin-Mitte. The Berlin architects Gonzalez Haase AAS were responsible for the design of the bread factory. The concept seems simple, but it was thought out down to the last detail. Starting with the uncovering of the 3.80-meter-high ceiling, the architects first created a raw, unadorned concrete cuboid. Then comes the highlight: Inspired by the painter Jan Vermeer, all surfaces are made of integrally colored pigmented concrete in an intense lapis lazuli blue. Vermeer explored the interplay of light and material structure for his artwork and is also known for his use of the hue ultramarine, which is made of ground-up lapis lazuli. At different times of day and incidences of light, the surface appearance of the blue hue changes, creating a fascinating play of light. "Together with the LED lighting strips set directly into the ceiling and the natural light coming in through the window frontage, we have created a bright, light-filled space that puts the spotlight on the fine bread and baked goods. Their warm-gold color spectrum appears like a complementary, punctuated element in the space that clearly stands out," explains Judith Haase of Gonzalez Haase AAS.

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