Floored

It's funny, how even in construction site folks end up hanging out in the kitchen. Here, Mike and Kelley cook up a killer concrete floor. Steven is picking out grout.
Check out the sail patterns in the floor and the morning light in the Community Kitchen.


















Testing.... Testing


















Deli


















Funny thing this... the electricity got shut off and the grinder got left on. When the electricity came on, the grinder went off! Before Mike could get to it, it had carved a perfect Fibonacci pattern in the floor.















































































































For a slideshow or to download pix:

Westside Evolution

A Day in the Leaf

It was Friday. A rainy Friday in late December. A short dark muddy day, shot with passing sunshine. It felt like a Friday. I spent too long in the trailer onsite debating color choices with Steven, but when I did emerge, it seemed to me that it must have been a rather nice day. Mike Miller and Kelley Burnham, of The Concretist, were onsite sculpting and coloring the concrete floor. For more about them, check them out at http://www.theconcretist.com/. The concrete art is the beginning of the finish work in the store. You could say we are at the beginning of the end.

Kelley, Mike, and Steven at the door of the Community Kitchen. Steven is pointing out a detail in the raw material.


















We do spend a fair amount of time talking about the floor, but in the end, the materials take their own direction every time.



















Kelley and Mike were sandblasting around plasma-cut metal shapes yesterday, and took over the jobsite with concrete dust. Here are the initial results.... look carefully, the slight difference is textural.















Extreme left edge of floor pattern in Bloom.


















These circles will be seeded with jellybean glass.


















Look for two rows of circles heading towards Meat and Seafood in a sandblasted field with a jagged edge on the right.














These are the plasma-cut shapes. Circles in NBC, sails in front of the Café and Deli.














































Command central. JB and Cameron at battle stations.


















You don't see them sitting down much, so I took two pictures.














Everyone was working and Steven was just sitting there, a full grown man playing with scissors.


















We looked at colors till they all turned blue.
Have we bitten off more than we can chew?














Just when you think it's over...
















View a slideshow or download pix at:

Westside Evolution

'Twas the Week Before Christmas...

And the empty store seemed mysteriously decorated. This is looking into the Produce Department with your back to the entrance. The Meat Department is in the back on the left.















Not only are the glowing holiday spheres somewhat remarkable here, but this is a nice view of how a huge duct dives into the soffit right over the Meat Department.


















This is a view of the duct along the back wall over the dairy cooler.














Then, it does a really sensational thing right in the middle of the store...check it out. I say we paint teeth on it! There is a similar duct and intake along the front of the store too.














This looks left along the duct towards the deli, which is under the round soffit on the right. Across from the deli is the Community Kitchen.














This is shot looking back down the duct along the dairy coolers towards the Meat and Seafood Department.














This is a shot looking out the windows between the Deli on the right and the Community Classroom on the left. There will be a salad bar and hot bar in this space...














This wall will have millwork for wine on it and is next to the round soffit over the Cheese/Bakery/Café. I have my back to the Deli and the Community Kitchen here.


















This is the aforementioned round soffit over the Cheese Dept. Wine is on the right and directly ahead are the entrance doors and outdoor seating area beyond.


















Here is a look at the Community Kitchen.... the stove will be under the hood on the right and the sink will be beyond that.














This is looking into the cafe with the entrance on your left and Cheese, Wine, Community Classroom, and Deli on your right.














Here is the same view taken from further back...














Looking at the front wall, Produce and Entrance are on the left.














Looking across the store to the Produce Department.














Looking across back the store at the Dairy Coolers and Meat Department.














Looking at Deli on the right, Community Kitchen directly ahead, and Wine to its left and Cheese under the round soffit.














Front wall next to produce


















The seating area and the registers will be on the right.















This is a shot of the ceiling, which we are not painting, looking toward the front of the store.















This is a shot of the ceiling looking down the back of the store




















View a slideshow or download pix at:

Westside Evolution