This Thai cafe is built around a pair of giant baobab trees

Located in the Thai seaside town of Chon Buri, Harudot cafe serves coffee in a dramatic space that’s punctuated, quite literally, by plant life.

Harudot gets its name from the Japanese word for spring or ‘new growth’, Haru, and Japanese principles influence IDIN Architects’ organic design, which sees plants physically shape its footprint. The star of the show is a pair of baobabs or bottle trees, which are the focal point of the Thai coffee shop and its rippling form.

Harudot’s walls curve around the trees, nicknamed the ‘Tree of Life’ and known for their bulbous bottle-like trunks that store water. They sit beneath the open roof, mimicking a shooting seed growing through the soil towards the light.

Guests can perch on ribboning benches by the baobabs in the courtyards or retreat indoors on rainy days. The rest of the cafe is enclosed, with swooping wooden walls, arched windows, and stretched ceilings that filter through the daylight and add to the organic feel of the space.

Flat, spherical floor lamps echo the cafe’s huge, open skylights, while furniture connects back to the day-to-day business of making coffee, made using resin mixed with grounds, rice and leaves.