Project Description
2012 RADA
Light Commercial / Grand
Our judges were blown away by Repp Design + Construction’s adaptive reuse of an old Kentucky Fried Chicken into a light-filled architectural office and fabrication shop for the firm. One judge called the result “completely transformative,” which is why the jury gave it a Grand award in its category.
“As a design/build firm, we really wanted to find a place where we could house our design office and our fabrication shop,” says Page W. Repp Jr., AIA. “We found this existing 4,500-square-foot building, which didn’t have much going for it, but it was on a large lot and had potential.”
On the plus side, the building had a large circular driveway—a remnant of the restaurant’s drive-thru—but it had undesirable west-facing glazing that had to be addressed. The firm gutted the building and created a landscaped entry courtyard and screen system to prevent heat gain. A large open plan in the front houses the studio and a 1,100-square-foot addition in back is reserved for the garage and workshop. Interiors are straightforward, with concrete floors, exposed roof trusses, and gypsum walls.
Said one jury member, “Simple elegant solutions for a forgotten, lost building.”