Crystal Palace Park Cafe

The cafe design is part of a package of improvement and conservation works proposed for the wider park. The approved design is a 2 storey building that provides a park level cafe and terrace and an event space at first floor level. The new building is situated in the same location as the existing cafe but its orientation has been shifted to be perpendicular to the park’s central axis. By doing this the building becomes the centre point of a new universally accessible route between the central axis and the lakeside path. The cafe is clad externally in half round cedar shingles. These have been chosen to respond to the scaled skin of the dinosaur models, creating a connection between the cafe building and the models at the other end of the lake. Carefully chosen areas of glazing maximise views over the park from within the cafe at ground level and over the lake from within the events space at first floor. The new cafe business will support the ongoing conservation of the unique grade I listed dinosaur sculptures and geological illustrations.