Khalansky Architects' Cafe Alma Opens at Almaty Museum of Arts

Khalansky Architects has completed Cafe Alma, a 104-sqm café within the Almaty Museum of Arts in Kazakhstan. Designed for hospitality group ABR, the project was finished in 2.5 months and serves as a fluid extension of the museum's public realm. The interior references Almaty's mid-century Soviet modernist heritage through geometric clarity, clean lines, and a material palette of sapele wood veneer, stainless steel, and terrazzo. A custom curved open bar of steel and wood forms the centerpiece. The café features Marcel Breuer's S 64 chairs (Thonet, 1929) and paintings by Central Asian artists, blending European modernist design with local architectural memory. Photographed by Damir Otegen, the space connects exhibition galleries with an outdoor terrace and the adjacent city avenue.