Gap Store Design
75 Schematic Designs for New and Remodeled Stores Across the US and Canada A large part of my time with Ashdown Downey was spent working with and managing over fifty schematic remodel projects for Gap, Inc. In these quick feasibility studies, I was in close contact with designers at the Gap’s corporate offices in San Francisco. My role was to adapt Gap’s hypothetical drawings to realworld leased spaces, and often to existing built conditions within the store. Our work product included a new layout and storefront elevation, and, when the scope of work calls for saving substantial parts of the existing store architecture, ceiling plans
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and demolition plans. The project team must keep in mind Gap’s operational needs, such as merchandizing and stock levels, as well as code compliance and construction conventions. When I started these projects we generally had around two to four at any given time. During my tenure this work grew to the point that I was managing ten to fifteen active projects with them at once. Building such a close working relationship with this client has been an invaluable professional experience. The Gap is a demanding and sophisticated client, and I am happy to have such a good working relationship with them.
Gap #9448 Kids, Baby
Gap #7233 Adult, Kids, Baby
Garden State Plaza, Paramus, NJ
42nd St and 3rd Ave, New York, NY
Ground Floor Plan
Interior Stair Elevation
Floor Plan
Basement Floor Plan
Storefront Elevations
Exterior Elevations - Left, Third Avenue, Right, 42nd Street
Cashwrap Elevation
Mercury Fitness Pilates Gym San Francisco, CA
Mercury Fitness was an established pilates studio, run out of the owner/trainer’s house in San Francisco, when they came to Ashdown Downey to design a new studio for them. The husband-wife team wanted to expand their client base, bringing in more trainers, offering group lessons, allowing them to lower their rates, making pilates accessible to more people. The clients wanted a space that would express the balanced movement and lifestyle associated with the Pilates method. The space they leased had previously been storage for a retail shop, is not accessible, only 8’-6� from floor to
the slab above, and had exposed services on the ceiling and walls. These and budgetary constraints forced us to be creative both spatially and economically. Furred walls rise and fall, in balanced tension, to create volumes of bright green space, contrasted with unfinished exposed concrete and structure, painted white. During the design process, one of the clients said that our proposal forced him to rethink his notion of balance, but that he loved the way the new design worked. I worked with Chris Downey on design proposals as well as the construction drawing set for this project, which opened in May 2006.
Floor Plan
Clary Sage Organics
Prototypical Store Design San Francisco, CA Clary Sage Organics is a new brand of organic and eco-friendly clothing, health and beauty products. They approached Ashdown Downey to design a prototypical store for multiple locations, the first to be in San Francisco. I was asked to lead this project through its early development, working with our client to define a brand experience. The pallete of reclaimed wood and simple steel details reference Northern California farm and urban landscapes. Two major built-in wall elements surround smaller personal care products in glowing light, behind wood frames.
The remaining walls are for clothing rails and fixtures. Many of the personal care and health-related products require consultations, and the small store was envisioned as a place to hang out and develop a relationship with sales people. To address this in the small spaces the client was expecting to lease, the cashwrap was extended as an information bar, for impromptu in-depth demonstrations and consultations. Fabricated in reclaimed wood, this feature serves as both the social and architectural focus of the store.
Nutraceutical Display Details
Interior Elevations
Personal Care Display Details
Grocery Outlet Pre-fab Storefront
Multiple locations, first installation in Boise, ID Having completed multiple site-specific store designs for Grocery Outlet stores, the client asked Ashdown Downey to detail a pre-fabricated version of their storefront. The design is a fourty-foot tall grocery bag form, which had previously been fabricated on site with conventional steel framing. My role was to develop early digital models of the framing system, to inform discussions with fabricators and consultants. Through careful panelization, the design allows this huge structure to be brough to the site on trucks and assembled rapidly, independent of the existing structure.
Steel frame and signage shown in exploded and assembled isometric views.