Wicked Coffee and Sub Shop

One of the many things the little town of Littleton needs and is often talked about is a Coffee/Sandwich shop that isnt something commercialized like dunkin donuts or subway, but its own original business.  Many entrepreneurial businesses in Littleton have disappeared since the recession and this project brings individual ownership and locality back to the Littleton restaurants.  

When one thinks of  a coffee shop they think of a small shop, close quarters, warm and an area you can sit and relax.  For this project I took that idea of the coffee shop and gave it a big interior space and also an exterior space for covered outdoor dining. There is also a "drive-thru" feature for those on the move.  

The location of this coffee shop is on an open corner of the lot where an abandoned strip mall stands.  There is already a fourway stop light for this location and putting it at this location allows for multiple people to drive by and see the restaurant while also providing those who leave the option to "opt" out of waiting at the stop light since there is already a spot for a second entrance on one side of the fourway stop light (rendering is shown from second entry).

What is next for this project is working with the material, which right now is a metal roof that flows down to the siding as well giving it a modern industrial look with the large windows, which fits into the commercial area of this location.  The area lighting poles are actually reclaimed and we previously existing in this area from a gas station that used to be on this site in the 70's and 80's.  The building graphics, which arent completely worked out, brings the consumer in by catching their attention before they would normally be able to see the sign.  The sign itself even draws your attention to the building, shaped in a way to "point" at the restaurant.

Crosstown Update

On my visit to Crosstown Motors to see how the progress was coming it looks like the doors that were originally on the face being shown are moved to their new spot.  It also looks like the foundation for the new addition has been added.  The only thing left is the new addition part of the building!  I'll keep you updated as it is built.

Brent

New Industrial

Project CESAR was a building I designed that explored mass housing for the homeless in an area of the capital city of Montpelier VT.  Even though it is not Vermont's largest community it does have one of the largest unemployment and homeless rates in the state.  The position for this site is centered just off the main street in Montpelier in an area with a historic industrial past with the train lines and also close enough to walk to downtown businesses and grocery stores. 
For my design, I took  the site and divided it up into open areas and massed together living areas.  In doing this I came up with this curved facade that faces true south and from the second floor up are equal sized housing for those with families, couples, and single units. With the curved facade a void is created at the center of the arc, which I utilized as a large public kitchen / mess hall area that both connects the users to others in the facility by looking up at the housing blocks along the arc, to the calming view of the river and surrounding vegetation, and also the sky with the large skylight above the arc which allows for an abundance of natural light to cut costs on lighting during the day.

The adjacent park brings together the community to a riverside park. The design is built ontop of the existing abandoned train turntable that was a left over reminder of Montpelier's large industrial past in the early half of the 1900s. Half the turntable is covered with a wood deck that contains various information panels about Montpelier's industrial past that grow up as an appendage to the wood deck itself. The other half of the turn table is filled with sand and provides a children's playground area, which the city lacks and brings a safe place for children to play together. Extending off the turn table over the river is a metal deck that extends up to 15 feet over the river.  This gives the community a different view of Montpelier down the historic river that was once used as a means of transport and also a new look at the various bridges along the river that provide access to the city.