Using the surrounding Sisters of the Cross garden backdrop as their focus, design firm March Gut has reinvented the Honeder bakery in Linz, Austria. To create an interactive customer experience, the architects employed byways and easy routes to and from the garden, bringing inspiration from nature inward. Outside, March Gut infused the serene setting of the natural surroundings with the modern ambiance of the bakery.

The Honeder brand focuses on good food by nature; healthy, hearty, and helpful for the body and mind. When given the task to redesign the food chain’s Linz location, designers Christoph March and Marek Gut formatted the space to provide easy access to a nearby garden in effort to create a modern, natural, and refined space.

Upon entrance, the design is reminiscent of a modern, Scandinavian design; airy, light, and fresh. Easy on the eyes and minimal in furnishing, the area is efficient and sleek. Drawing from the natural setting, maple wood has been used for most of the bespoke display cases and seating areas, and for a more modern finish, concrete covers the floor. Created with flexibility and accessibility in mind, the converted space sports a free standing counter, which allows for customers to get up close and personal with their chocolate croissants. A distinctive brick wall, lined with wooden spokes make for an interesting method of displaying breads. On the opposite wall, also spoked, hangs seat backs, an unexpected and clever use of the design element.

The pavilion-like character allowed the designers to not only focus on the interior, but use the interior as a pathway, an introduction, to the surrounding area. The inclusion of minimal furniture and a light palette invite the sights, sounds, and light to flood the space from the large windows that provide striking views from the outside and inside, and a roofed pathway leads the patron to an interactive natural experience as they nibble on their favorite treats.

The design is a mixture of minimal taste and natural ambiance. Sporting entirely wood furniture, as well as a dominant aesthetic of round, curved tables and display units, the area draws from the garden that is just a covered-path walk away, and the metropolitan, flourishing urban Linz. In developing a space that is simple and open, yet invites customers to explore the space beyond the interior, March Gut have embodied Honeder’s mission of natural and healthy eats, as well as opening the experience to the inspiration behind their treats.

Photography by Dietmar Tollerian