A taste of modernity: Coming soon to Guest Care Hotel.

A NEW two-storey café with rooftop seating is set to open early 2008 at Guest Care Hotel in Yangon, with a design its managers say will give customers “a sense of wonder in the midst of their busy lives”.

Under construction at the grounds of the hotel on Dammazedi Road since early this year, the as yet unnamed café makes extensive use of glass, aluminium panels and sweeping curves to create a modern, almost futuristic feel.

The circular theme is integral to the mood the café hopes to create, its managers, Ko Wai Phone and Ko Zaw Phone, said last week in a note to The Myanmar Times.

Employed by Guest Care International Ltd, the brothers wrote that the circular design is intended to convey a place “that is for everybody to come together”.

“This place is created for everyone to experience a new trendy lifestyle phenomenon that we, in the 21st century, should be experiencing,” they wrote.

Designed by ST&T Architecture and Building Services, the café will be able to accommodate up to 100 people on each of the lower two floors, as well as 35 on the open roof.

“There are no other cafés in Yangon designed like this. It is the latest open-style design,” said ST&T senior architect U Si Thu Myint Swe, who spent three months working on the plan.

“It’s mostly glass walls on the ground floor – plus a few bricks at the back of the building – in order to let enough light in, but we design to install sunshades to prevent it overheating,” he said.

The building has been positioned to give diners wide views of the surrounding street life.