Futura HPL plywood layered and stacked in Wynyard Quarter’s Atomic Cafe fitout

Plytech’s Futura HPL plywood was layered and stacked to create bespoke shelving and a counter space during the fitout of Wynyard Quarter’s new Atomic cafe. Futura HPL is European Birch plywood finished on both faces with a premium hard-wearing decorative laminate produced by Egger, Germany.

Completed in May 2016, Atomic Coffee Roasters, Wynyard Quarter is a recent addition to Atomic’s chain of popular cafés across Auckland. The new café was designed by creative teams Paul Izzard Design, Fuman Design Studio and Blank Canvas Design Co., who collaborated to bring the brand’s aesthetic to the forefront.

Having previously worked on other interior fitouts for Atomic, Paul Izzard Design sought to maintain consistency across the different cafés while also providing a unique design. As the Wynyard Quarter store was located in a contemporary building quite different from Atomic’s other locations, they decided to maintain consistency by using similar materials utilised in the other cafes, but in new, different ways.

Futura HPL featuring a black laminate veneer was selected for the cabinetry and benchtop surfaces of the café, and was also layered and stacked to create the customer counter space and bespoke shelving.

“We wanted to create visual impact in a small space in a simple and effective way by stacking the ply,” interior designer Sara Erdos said. The edge detail of Futura HPL added another dimension to the design, she explained.

The modern, layered effect of the ply extends up the back wall of the café where strip lights have been recessed into the staggered ply wall, creating an eye-catching feature.

Available in a range of colours, Futura HPL is a popular product for interior fitouts as it combines its beautiful aesthetic with a host of practical features.

“We use Futura HPL for a lot of cabinetry and other uses because it’s really good around wet areas,” Erdos explained. “It’s pre-finished, hardwearing and robust — a good quality product.”

“It’s also readily available and machines really easily,” she added. Approximately 35 sheets of Futura HPL Black and 30 sheets of Supawhite laminate were used for the project, and intricate fixing was required to get the ply sheets sitting right without interfering with services. The extra effort was well worth it, with the stacked ply adding an element of depth without sacrificing space in Atomic’s striking new café.