Its hard to believe that 2015 has come to a close already. Here is a rundown of all the great moss projects that wrapped up construction – and started being used for their new purposes – in the last year. Keep reading to check out two new restaurants, a brewery taproom, an optometrist’s office, a great loft in west loop, an entry plaza for an existing apartment building and a newly remodeled apartment block for Flats, Chicago. We also collaborated with the Naru Project to create a proposed River Kayak Park for the North Branch of the Chicago River.
Check out photos and blurbs for all of the projects of 2015 below:
Completed Projects of 2015
Bang Chop Thai Kitchen
This sleek little corner restaurant in West Loop is the latest endeavor of the team behind Saigon Sisters. We did their location in Northwestern Hospital’s food court in 2013, as well. Bang Chop is a clean, modern space with snug tables under high windows and even higher ceilings. The emphasis on warm wood materials makes you want to linger (so does the great food.)
Appellation for Pastoral
Construction is complete and the doors are open on this latest endeavor of the Pastoral Wine and Cheese people. We haven’t actually done our own blog post introducing this restaurant (consider this a teaser). Read our design process and construction update here, or check out Eater’s review of the newly opened space – that’s Eater’s picture above!
Begyle Taproom
We’ve already hoisted many a flight of great beer here in the Begyle Taproom but we haven’t yet posted the final photos (another teaser). Here’s our design background post, so you can read about its features. Our expansion of the original sales area and tasting counter added table space, an accessible bathroom and a great visual connection to the brewing space where you can imagine the magic happening inside the tanks. The best visit of all includes a snack from a cooperating food truck parked outside, and a growler of your favorite brew to take home at the end of the evening!
Uptown Family Vision
The light, bright, glasses show room and optometrist’s office in Park Ridge is one of our favorite projects from the past year – full of new custom built-ins and display shelves – as well as reclaimed elements (beams, flooring and barn board ceiling cladding), it shows off some great design ideas. Go get your eyes checked there so that you can be sure you’re experiencing the result with fully corrected vision!
Graphic Identity for Uptown Family Vision
Not only did we design the full commercial remodel for Uptown Family Vision, but we also helped them set up a great Brand Identity. Flip through some of the early drafts and later iterations of their logo and color scheme and learn what inspired early and final logo ideas.
West Loop Loft
This loft home for two artists in West Loop maximizes the natural light that the exiting building provided by using open spaces, interior glazing and bright surfaces. Come take a visual stroll through the images to admire not only the moss designed spaces but some of the great finds collected by the creative home owners (and see their cat).
Clark Plaza and Canopy
This brick apartment building Reside on Clark in Lincoln Park was in dire need of a face lift – its entry disappeared beside the signage for the adjacent USPS office. We proposed a number of plaza re-design options for the building and settled on this rain-water shedding two-tiered canopy which does its job with quiet grace. Check it out here!
Wilson Flats
This great old apartment building in Uptown was in pretty poor repair when Flats took it on. Collaborating with them we’ve transformed it into the place to be – with sleek micro-apartments, a lot of history restored and a Heritage Bicycle coffee outpost in the lobby. If you can’t move there right now, you can enjoy a tasty cuppa in their ground floor space!
River Kayak Park
One of our more unusual projects of the year was to design a floating park for Kayakers on the Chicago River. We collaborated with the Naru Project to brainstorm fun ideas and ended up with a collection of renderings, sketches and diagrams to help them pitch their dream space to planners and potential sponsors, alike. We really hope it happens because kayaking the Chicago is a real blast.
We’ve got a few more projects of 2015 still wrapping up construction that we’ll be showcasing over the next few weeks and months and plenty more on the design docket! There should be more fun and challenging projects to come in 2016!
