Vijay Café
| Location | Trichy |
| Typology | Hospitality |
| Year | 2019 |
| Status | Built |
| Built up area | 1,350 Sqft |
| Client | Vijay Dairy |
| Structural | Er Balasubramani [SA] |
| Contractor | with held |
| Consultants | with held |
| Photography | SA |
| Lead Architects | Santhosh, Raja |
| Design Team | Senthil, Balasubramani |
The café @ Vijay Dairy Farm started out as a marketing exercise to propagate dairy and flour products apart from the plethora of food products that the company specializes in. Located on the state Highway 62, the café’s visibility needed to be a key factor to draw customers to stop by for a break. The two huge peepal trees (Ficus religiosa) located abutting the highway were the key elements to start with the design exercise.
The form of the café derives from the proximity to both these trees to ensure that there is sufficient shade as well as lush landscaping that the tired traveller sipping either hot filter kapi or chilled buttermilk can capitalize on.
The space has been planned in such a way the customer can either drive in, shop, dine or just lounge. The three programs of the building - counter, restaurant and kitchen, are distinctly split using different materials. The restaurant is placed in the centre with vegetation on either side, the kitchen forms the rear end and the counter/ billing covers the front end. Further adding to the design elements, are the contemporary sloped roof and modern grey colour terracotta tile.
Taking to the earthy context that the site is located in, exposed brickwork, cuddapah louvres were used on the external wall fascia.
