L!ve Cafe is a social gathering space, a learning environment, meeting place, and full service cafe, among other things. The cafe is the physical space for the CFA organization, with both L!ve Cafe and CFA focusing their work on making connections between the Austin community in Chicago with the Village of Oak Park to the west and beyond. The cafe exists as a meeting house for discussion and education, in addition to a great cup of coffee. Our concept was conversation and compromise, two elements essential to productive dialogue between people. We created flexible space capable of several configurations for a wide variety of presentations and discussions in addition to serving as a coffee shop. The long narrow space is anchored by a convertible conference room that can be completely open or tightly shut for private meetings. The entire space centers on the coffee bar, because breaking bread and sharing a drink is where the conversation always begins.
