Everything has a latent poetry, and this project attempts to reveal the beauty of a dilapidated storage building on the lot of the Warner Hollywood Studios. Through a series of interventions and additions, our design endeavors to bring to light the beauty of certain neglected conditions within the building.

 

The three conditions to which we responded were the rhythmic contrast of the existing ceiling structure, the mutability of the south elevation, and new vistas afforded by the construction of a new park.

 

The rhythmic contrast set up by the 40’ bow string trusses and the perpendicular corrugations of the metal roof is heightened by the simple insertion of the ceiling soffit. It floats through the space seemingly cutting through the system of the sandblasted trusses, while actually allowing the soffit and the trusses to slip past one another untouched. Similarly, a series of rising steel fins slice through the original facade framing the connecting joint between the existing trusses and the supporting posts. Vertical and horizontal glass enclose the joint.

 

The mutability of the south elevation is addressed by installing large glass doors alluding to the original sliding garage doors. They also work in conjunction with the skewed position of the floating soffit creating a forced perspectival gesture that opens the main dining space to a previously unavailable view to the new park adjacent to the east elevation.

 

By exploring the properties of rhythm, boundary and perspective, we used the new program for a restaurant as a vehicle to reveal a beauty that was always already there