How does your day unfold in the city?

Work, traffic, public transport, endless notifications and digital screens constantly compete for our attention. Moments of calm are becoming increasingly difficult to find.

When you want to slow down, take a breath or simply spend an hour without rushing, where do you go?

Perhaps that is why book cafés such as Cafe Marks are attracting renewed interest.

This renewed interest is not simply about returning to printed books, nor is it only about coffee culture. These spaces reflect a broader shift in the way people use cities. They are becoming places where visitors can slow their pace, spend time without urgency and temporarily step away from the constant demands of contemporary urban life.

Cafe Marks by Anna Lazar, Minsk.
Photography: Vitalina Voroshkevich. Art Photo: Elena Korshak.

At Cafe Marks, a book café‘s value certainly isn’t just its bookshelves.

Books remain part of the experience, but they are no longer the sole reason people choose to visit. Increasingly, what draws visitors is the atmosphere itself—the possibility of finding a calmer rhythm within an otherwise accelerated city.

Designed by Anna Lazar, Cafe Marks, a contemporary book café in Minsk, reflects this broader cultural shift. Rather than relying on visual spectacle or excessive decorative elements, the project creates an environment where spatial calm becomes an integral part of the architectural experience.

Cafe Marks by Anna Lazar, Minsk.
Photography: Vitalina Voroshkevich. Art Photo: Elena Korshak.

Instead of introducing more visual stimulation, Anna Lazar carefully removes many of the elements that typically compete for attention in contemporary hospitality interiors. Warm timber surfaces, restrained material choices, mineral flooring and soft sculptural lighting work together to create a space that feels calm rather than visually overwhelming.

The furniture layout is equally thoughtful. Small tables positioned near the windows provide intimate settings for reading, working or quiet conversation, while a larger communal table encourages shared use. Generous spacing between seating areas allows visitors to move through and occupy the café without feeling constrained by the architecture.

The material palette reinforces this atmosphere. The warmth of natural timber, the calmness of neutral mineral flooring and the rounded VARMBLIXT wall lamps designed by Sabine Marcelis bring softness rather than visual spectacle.

Cafe Marks by Anna Lazar, Minsk.
Photography: Vitalina Voroshkevich. Art Photo: Elena Korshak.

What makes Cafe Marks particularly compelling is not a single material or piece of furniture. Instead, the project demonstrates how interior architecture can influence human behaviour through subtle spatial decisions.

Rather than constantly asking visitors to look, photograph or consume, the interior quietly encourages them to stay, observe and spend time at their own pace.

A Broader Evolution in Hospitality Design

Projects such as Cafe Marks suggest that cafés are increasingly expected to function as hybrid environments—part workplace, part meeting place, part reading room and part personal retreat. In these spaces, comfort is no longer measured solely by furniture or lighting, but by the environment’s ability to reduce unnecessary visual and mental noise.

Perhaps that is why projects such as Cafe Marks resonate today. At a time when almost every space competes for attention, the most memorable interiors may not be those that offer more stimulation, but those that understand the value of restraint.

Sometimes, good design is defined not only by what it adds, but also by what it consciously leaves out.

Project: Cafe Marks (Book Cafe Marks)

Location: Minsk, Belarus

Designer: Anna Lazar

Project Type: Book Café / Hospitality Interior

Area: 126 m² café + 74 m² professional kitchen

Design Concept: Transforming a former 1936 grocery store into a contemporary cultural café where books, coffee, art and everyday social life come together in a calm, welcoming environment.

Main Materials: Natural wood, stone, porcelain surfaces, marble, ceramic, glass and metal.

Furniture & Interior Elements: Custom shelving, marble tables, minimalist furniture, integrated library system and flexible lighting.

Artworks: Sculptures by Olga Orsik and photographic works by Elena Korshak.

Photography: Vitalina Voroshkevich

Art Photography: Elena Korshak

DWN Perspective:
Cafe Marks demonstrates how adaptive reuse can create not only a new interior, but also a contemporary cultural space where reading, coffee and everyday urban life intersect.