Some of the nicest projects are the ones where you are not really designing from zero, you are having a conversation with what is already there. This one started as an old store building, brick walls standing solid after all these years, and rather than knocking all that down, we kept the brick honestly exposed and simply gave it a new roof to live under — a black steel and glass gable structure that sits on top like a greenhouse, letting the old walls breathe while bringing in a completely contemporary character.
Walk up to the entrance and the tall glazed gable end does most of the talking, dining tables visible right from the street, warm pendant lighting glowing through in the evenings. Inside, the brick walls are left rugged and unplastered, paired with timber counters, a marble-top service bar, chalkboard menus and a proper mix of framed art and decor that gives the space a lived-in, collected-over-time feel rather than a freshly built one.
Kitchen, cashier and pantry sit compactly to one side, dining runs along the length of the old store, and a small courtyard dining pocket at the entrance, tucked in behind a planted brick wall, gives guests a quieter spot to sit out under the trees.
It is a small building, honestly, but one where the old and new are not fighting each other — the brick gives it warmth, the steel and glass give it light, and somehow it works out to be more than the sum of the two.
Design: Tropic Yard Design Studio