Case Study: Arca Architects secures community approval for the Silver Café with VectorWorks

Arca Architects - Customer Case Study

Arca Architects, an award‑winning Manchester practice led by John Lee, was commissioned to design a 40–50 seat café as part of Morecambe’s waterfront regeneration. The tight site between the promenade and high sea wall, a modest £250,000 budget, and local concerns about fitting a contemporary landmark into a historic seaside context — together with the project’s complex geometry — made visualizing and gaining community approval a key challenge.

Arca raised the café floor above the sea wall, wrapped the leaning rounded rectangular volume in a stainless‑steel “ribbon,” and placed a contrasting black cuboid for the public toilets, adding ramps, terraces and sheltered outdoor spaces. High‑quality 3D renderings produced in Vectorworks helped secure stakeholder buy‑in and planning approval; cost savings (such as a simple welded steel roof on the toilets) freed funds for signature materials. The Silver Café opened in 2008, won the 2009 Small Scale Commercial Award, and now provides panoramic views of Morecambe Bay.

Arca Architects

John Lee

Founder