Space Case: Sophia’s Brunch Counter

by Madison Rutherford | photography by Angelina Aragon

You immediately register two things at Sophia’s Brunch Counter: the line of eager Zoomers waiting for a table at the pocket-size Midtown café; and the striking open-air pavilion design, which draws inspiration from Midcentury architecture, elemental geometry and European courtyards.

“You have a conceptual idea: pavilion in a park. How do you pull that off in a parking lot?” says Cristoph Kaiser, owner and principal of Kaiserworks, the Downtown Phoenix architecture firm behind Sophia’s infrastructure, interior design and furniture fabrication. “You start to push the edges and figure out how to create visual separation.” 

The compact, angular structure is offset by expansive connections to the outdoors, “blurring that line between inside and outside,” Kaiser says. “When you’re sitting here, you feel like it’s cooler, it’s greener, you’re communing with nature.”

Named after the granddaughter of developer Dave Chamberlin of Chamberlin + Associates, who co-owns Sophia’s, the restaurant also incorporates whimsical, feminine design flourishes – a playful energy that extends beyond its four walls. “We wanted to hit that childlike wonder, where you walk in and it feels unexpected and life-giving,” Kaiser says. 

Aqueduct Table

Designed by Kaiser and manufactured by Phoenix’s Swiss Metal Works, this stainless-steel colonnaded community table weighs nearly 1,200 pounds and required a custom chassis for transport. 

Arc Pendant

This looping light fixture started as a primitive iPad sketch “using a big, floppy brush,” Kaiser says. “It’s bright and arches further and deeper into the building, so it creates a little mystery.” 

Oculus 

A circular skylight provides ample sun for a budding Indian banyan tree, chosen for its “whimsical and sculptural aspect,” Kaiser says. 

Marble Tabletops 

The jade-green marble used to construct these bistro tables was sourced from a quarry in China. “We had 15 slabs on a shipping container crossing the ocean for over a month,” Kaiser says. 

Fluted Façade 

Sophia’s perforated aluminum exterior is the project’s statement piece, Kaiser says. “It took a lot to pull it off… We’ll probably never do another building like it.”