PERSPECTIVES
RODE's restaurant work and intensive collaboration process is featured in this month's issue of Foodservice East. Check out some highlights below:
“We’re a very process-oriented design firm and restaurants make up 10 to 15 percent of what we do. We know our process. There’s a lot of complexity from the kitchen to the front door.”
The architects like to work with chefs and general managers as well as doing an “exhaustive study” with patrons. When their work begins on a project, they look at what the space looks and feels like as a starting point. “We don’t dictate the final outcome,” Robinson explains. The goal is to translate the owners’ vision in an architectural way, he points out. Asked what is the hardest part of the process, he thinks it may be trying to let the client let go of preconceived opinions. “We ask them to post what they like and don’t like on a Pinterest page and think about the architectural part. We pull out images of what they like and talk about them. It’s important to take notes, listen and come back and re-present what we heard back. We show them images that evoke what they think the client is talking about and ask them to come up with three ideas. “We distill their thoughts into a vision,” Robinson explains.
His favorite part of the process is going back at the end and seeing what worked or didn’t work. “We love to experience it, talk and enjoy it and celebrate the joint vision when they’re happy and doing well.”
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Read the original article in its entirety here.
RODE and Ferrara Brothers are planning to begin construction later this year on a new concrete production facility at 740 Third Avenue, located between 23rd and 24th streets in Sunset Park. The New York City Economic Development Corporation selected the Ferrara Brothers to utilize the 102,247-square-foot waterfront industrial site. The structure will also include 1,468 square feet of office space and a 3,373-square-foot “washout building.” To learn more about this project, head to the NYC Concrete Plant project page.
Original article from New York Yimby
RODE designed Jamaica Plain condos sell within a month!
Mangiacotti Design + Development wrapped construction of 48 Forbes Street in Jamaica Plain’s Hyde Square area earlier this year.
The 2,561-square-foot modern townhouse, which features a 20-foot partial wall of glass and includes a two-car (heated) garage, is part of a three-unit development that RODE Architects designed.
The 3-BR, 2.5-BA spread dropped in January for $1,295,000 through Arborview Realty.
It just closed for $1,280,000.
Original article can be found at Curbed Boston.
The BSA Foundation assembled a team of designers to produce renderings and other visualizations to illustrate potential development along the Fairmount Indigo corridor as part of a project for the Boston Foundation. The work grew from the Boston Planning and Development Agency (formerly BRA) comprehensive planning study and other neighborhood documents already complete.
RODE architect Katie Cressall joined the Fairmount Corridor Visioning Team to specifically address the Blue Hill Station. The process included engaging the community at the Design for Equity Panel at ABX, a charrette with CDC staff, and a community forum with neighbors in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde Park. It presented a great opportunity to learn more about community development in our neighborhoods, as well as the ways in which the community influences urban design.
Through her focus on the Bill Hill station in Mattapan Katie learned about some of the neighborhood’s main concerns. She created visual renderings to help support and stimulate conversations with community leaders and others - translating the planning study and its dense planner/architect lingo into an image that families, business owners, and other community members could easily understand and that encouraged everyone be a part of the project.
Katie helped to develop the before and after view shown below, which depicts a concept for the new Blue Hill Train Station, as well as the urban infill scale that the city is encouraging. The process of working closely with the community, as well as with other architects and planners was very inspiring and will continue to impact how she collaborates at RODE.
