In Helsinki, Finland, there’s a new café called Café Kauko. It’s an Internet café in a different sense that what you’re probably used to. The actual experience of the café itself is controlled by the Internet.
Here’s a look:
Patrons use the web to adjust the table, the music, the lighting, etc. Here’s the description from the KlausK Hotel, Helsinki:
WDC Helsinki 2012 opened a remote controlled café at the Forum shopping centre. The café is used to illustrate the significance of good design in everyday life.
Sections of Café Kauko (i.e. Remote Café), which is free to all, can be remote controlled in real time online at www.youdesign.fi. Visitors to the website will be able to control the café’s design – chair and table height, lighting, music and other sounds. When a passer-by sits down at Café Kauko, another person can at the same time control and follow the visitor’s coffee break on the café’s website.
– With Café Kauko, we wish to stimulate discussion on how design can make residents’ everyday lives better, more convenient and functional, WDC Helsinki 2012 Director Pekka Timonen, states.
Until the middle of February, this WDC Helsinki 2012 mobile café will be located on the 2nd floor of the Forum shopping centre in Helsinki. The café offers free coffee, a wireless connection and weekly magazines for perusal. Café Kauko will also appear in several other locations during 2012.
Café Kauko, www.youdesign.fi website and the TV clips are part of the awareness campaign which also consists of outdoor notices and online visibility. The campaign has been designed by hasan & partners and produced by Perfect Fools from Stockholm.
Is the future of the Internet café? For that matter, of dining? Imagine being able to control your dining experience with your smartphone.
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