Architecture • Engineering • Planning • Forensic Services

This project was part of a renovation of a long-span bowstring arched storage building into a new Restaurant - Performance Space - Sound Studio in southeast Evanston, Illinois. The concept was to provide a restaurant-bar at the front of the building that would accommodate both casual diners and concertgoers before and after events, a performance space for jazz, folk and world music beyond the restaurant, and rehearsal and recording studio spaces for musicians at the rear. Our portion of the overall project was the restaurant-bar that faces onto the street and provides the main entry into the complex. It includes a waiting area- lounge, bar, dining room and kitchen. A large wood-fired brick pizza oven separates the dining and cooking areas near the center of the room. The walls of the restaurant space were stripped of most of the existing plaster and other finishes leaving only bits of paint and exposed brick. The wood roof trusses, ductwork, electrical conduit and piping were also left exposed to view. The project received a Design Award from Design Evanston in 2010.