TL;DR
A Daily Coffee News report published Oct. 21 details Neri&Hu’s design for Blue Bottle Coffee’s Busan cafe, completed in 2025. Called “Elevated Maru,” the adaptive-reuse project draws on a traditional Korean home’s open, wooden-floored maru to organize the cafe’s fourth floor and rooftop overlooking the Suyeong River.
Neri&Hu’s design for Blue Bottle Coffee’s Busan cafe reinterprets the maru—an open, wooden-floored space in a traditional Korean house—as the organizing idea for the building’s fourth floor and rooftop. The project, named “Elevated Maru,” was completed in 2025 and is detailed in a report published Oct. 21 by Daily Coffee News, which identifies the cafe’s river-facing setting as a central part of the design brief.
The cafe occupies an existing building on Millak Subyeon Road in Busan, with views of the Suyeong River and nearby landmarks. The project covers 488 square meters (5,253 square feet). Blue Bottle asked the architects to make full use of the panoramic river view, according to the Daily Coffee News report. Neri&Hu responded by exploring how traditional Korean architecture relates to its surrounding landscape and by extending the maru concept across the upper levels.
In a hanok, or traditional Korean house, the maru can function as a flexible living area or central hall. Neri&Hu describes it as a space that connects rooms and activities while also mediating between the interior and outdoors. At the Busan cafe, that principle is expressed through the relationship between the fourth floor and rooftop, rather than through a direct copy of a historic house.
The staircase between those levels is designed to evoke a lantern, linking the two parts of the project symbolically. The design also refers to traditional construction features, including the daedeulbo and seokkarae—beams and rafters—and the cheoma, or eaves. On the roof, the ceiling takes inspiration from the deul-eo-yeol-gae-mun, a type of folding door, according to Neri&Hu.
The exterior combines stainless-steel I-beams with clear and textured glass. Inside, the listed materials include concrete, aluminum extrusions, corrugated stainless-steel panels, white oak, plywood, glass and terracotta. Neri&Hu led architecture, interiors, products and graphics. Blue Bottle Coffee Korea managed the design, while Design Energy handled local design, lighting and construction with Soo International contributing steel construction, doors and windows. Hwasoomog Flower and Garden worked on the landscape.
A Cafe Framed by Busan’s River
The project matters as a documented example of how a global coffee brand and an architecture studio shaped a cafe around local building traditions and a specific urban setting. Rather than treating the river view as a backdrop alone, the design frames the upper floors as a social connection between the Suyeong River and nearby Baek Mountain. Neri&Hu described the cafe as a potential social hub and gateway between those landmarks; that wording is the firm’s stated design intent, not evidence of how visitors use the space.
The use of the maru also gives the project a clear organizing idea. The traditional space’s role as both a gathering place and a threshold between inside and outside informs the circulation and rooftop connection. For readers interested in architecture and hospitality, the report offers a concrete account of how a cultural reference can shape the layout, staircase, roof treatment and material choices of a contemporary cafe.
traditional Korean hanok interior decor
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
From Hanok Hall to Rooftop
Daily Coffee News presents the project as an installment of its Design Details series, which examines individual examples of coffee-shop architecture, interiors, packaging and branding. The article credits all project photographs to Neri&Hu and lists the project as completed in 2025. The Oct. 21, 2026 publication date is the date of the report, not the cafe’s completion.
The maru reference is specific to the design’s spatial concept. Neri&Hu says that, within a hanok, the maru supports everyday activity, social gatherings and ceremonies while offering openness and a direct connection to nature. The firm’s description provides the rationale for the project’s name, “Elevated Maru,” and its focus on the fourth floor and rooftop. The source does not present the project as a reconstruction of a hanok; it describes an adaptive reuse of an existing building.
“Busan Blue Bottle is conceived as a social hub and a gateway, bridging the Suyeong River and Baek Mountain, and enhancing the connectivity between these significant urban and natural landmarks.”
— Neri&Hu, in a project description shared with Daily Coffee News
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Project Intent, Visitor Experience
The source details the design concept, materials, project team and completion year, but it does not give the cafe’s opening date, operating status, visitor numbers or business performance. It also does not include comments from customers or an independent assessment of how effectively the design connects the interior to the river and mountain. Neri&Hu’s descriptions of the cafe as a social hub and gateway should be understood as the architects’ intended outcome, not a measured result.
The report provides no cost figures, renovation timeline or explanation of the existing building’s earlier use. It also does not specify how much of the structure was retained or changed during the adaptive reuse. Those details cannot be established from the published project account.
architectural lighting fixtures for cafes
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Further Details Depend on Updates
The source does not announce a future construction phase, opening event or new design milestone: it identifies the project as completed in 2025. The report’s next step for readers seeking more about the cafe would be information from Blue Bottle Coffee or Neri&Hu on its current operations, visitor experience and the building’s reuse. Daily Coffee News also invites submissions for future Design Details coverage, but the article names no follow-up report or schedule.
outdoor landscape lighting for cafes
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What is “Elevated Maru”?
It is the name Neri&Hu gave its adaptive-reuse design for Blue Bottle Coffee’s Busan cafe. The concept reinterprets the maru, an open, wooden-floored area in a traditional Korean home.
Where is the cafe?
The project is on Millak Subyeon Road in Busan, South Korea, in a building overlooking the Suyeong River. Neri&Hu’s description also identifies nearby Baek Mountain as part of the surrounding landscape.
When was the project completed?
The project listing gives 2025 as its completion year. Daily Coffee News published its design report on Oct. 21, 2026.
What features carry the traditional Korean references?
The design uses the maru as its central spatial idea, includes references to traditional beams, rafters and eaves, and draws on a folding-door type for the rooftop ceiling. The staircase connecting the fourth floor and roof is designed to evoke a lantern.
What is not confirmed in the report?
The article does not state the cafe’s opening date or provide operating, attendance or business data. It also does not report visitor responses or measure whether the intended social and landscape connections have been achieved.
Source: rss
