Owner: Thad Vogler

Completion Date: August 2010

 

Program: A single-story, 4,000-square-foot restaurant and bar with a 1,600-square-foot garden in the industrial South of Market district of San Francisco. The project is an adaptive reuse of the single-story portion of a three-story historic warehouse. The rest of the building became offices, also designed by Aidlin Darling.

Design concept and solution: Drawing on sensibilities both rough and refined, the architects sought to complement the restaurant's seasonal, sustainable menu with warm textures and locally fabricated materials. To give the long, tall warehouse a more intimate scale, they suspended a wooden "hull" from the ceiling as a way of lowering the space's height on one side. Crafted from reclaimed whiskey-tank oak, the hull ceiling folds down at a right angle to form a wall behind the coffee bar and booths. Aidlin Darling fitted the warehouse's three existing skylight openings with delicate, twisting glass sculptures made from warped Pyrex cylinders, which puncture the hull and filter daylight down into the restaurant. The architects added additional joists to the original ceiling to support a new green roof, and they painted the planks white to set off the warm wood of the hull. Two locally fabricated bars made of board-formed concrete and old barn beams anchor the space. High-backed booths cast from inch-thick ribbons of ductal concrete have a clean silhouette and add a sleek touch to the interior. Bar Agricole's palette of reclaimed and locally fabricated materials, such as chairs made from a Napa Valley vineyard's white oak barrels, will help it meet its target of LEED-CI Platinum certification. Outside, the architects reduced the size of the parking lot to create a street-front garden and seating area lined with raised beds of herbs.

Cost: $850,000

Architect and Designer:
Aidlin Darling Design
500 3rd Street, Suite 410
San Francisco, CA 94107
415.974.5603 p
415.974.0849 f

People

Owner:

Thad Vogler

 

Architect:

Aidlin Darling Design
500 3rd Street, Suite 410
San Francisco, CA 94107
415.974.5603 p
415.974.0849 f

Personnel in architect's firm who should receive special credit:

Partners in Charge: Joshua Aidlin AIA, David Darling AIA

Project Architect: Roslyn Cole AIA

Project Team: Adrienne Swiatocha, Shane Curnyn, Adam Rouse

 

Contractor:

Northern Sun Associates

 

Engineers:

Structural Engineer:

Berkeley Structural Design

Mechanical Engineer:

MHC Engineers

 

Consultants:

Lighting Designer
Revolver Design

Acoustical Consultant
Charles Salter Associates

Sustainability Consultant
Simon and Associates

Graphics
Albertson Design

Food Service Consultant
Restaurant Consultation & Design

Glass Sculpture Design
Nikolas Weinstein Studios

Custom Chair Design
Sebastian Parker

Metal Fabricator
Chris French Metal

Concrete Fabricator
Concreteworks

Woodworker
Cabinet Works Co.

Wood Hull Fabricator
Matarozzi Pelsinger Builders

Garden Fabricator
Cronin Construction & Development Inc.

 

Photographer(s):

Matthew Millman
Thomas Winz
Bruce Damonte

 

Renderer(s):

Aidlin Darling Design

 

CAD system, project management, or other software used:

VectorWorks, SketchUp

 

Products

Glazing

Glass: Supreme Glass Co.

Skylights: Skylight and Sun

 

Doors

Entrances: Supreme Glass Co.

 

Hardware

Locksets: Schlage (interior), CR Laurence & Dorma (exterior)

 

Interior finishes

Cabinetwork and custom woodwork: Cabinet Works (fabricator) and Restoration Timber (wood supplier)

Paints and stains: Benjamin Moore

Special surfacing: Wood Hull-Matarozzi Pelsinger Builders (fabricator) and Restoration Timber (wood supplier)

Flooring: Concrete by Concreteworks

 

Furnishings

Reception furniture: ductal concrete hoststand by Concreteworks with reclaimed wood top by Cabinet Works (fabricator) and Restoration Timber (wood supplier)

Fixed seating: ductal concrete banquettes by Concreteworks

Chairs:  custom by Sebastian Parker, barstools from Restoration

Tables: custom - Wood tops by Cabinet Works (fabricator) and Restoration Timber (wood supplier), metal base by Chris French Metal

Bars: poured in place concrete by Concreteworks, reclaimed wood tops Cabinet Works (fabricator) and Restoration Timber (wood supplier)

Glass sculptures by Nikolas Weinstein Studios

Metal backbar by Chris French Metal

Exterior concrete tables by Concreteworks, Marais chairs from Design within Reach

 

Lighting

Interior ambient lighting: Tech Lighting, Hera Lighting, custom steel light fixtures fabricated by Chris French Metal

Controls: Lutron

 

Conveyance

Accessibility provision–lift: ThyssenKrupp Access Porch-Lift

 

Plumbing

Custom sinks by Concreteworks with American Standard fittings, Toto toilets