Half Dose #60: Long Island City Bakery

The following text and images are courtesy of New York's Office for Design & Architecture (ODA) for their adaptive reuse of a gas station into the Long Island City Bakery, a project "situated at the crossroads of the older commercial Long Island City and the newer residential Long Island City with housing developments near the East River."


[photograph of existing gas station courtesy of ODA | click image for larger view]


[rendering of Long Island City Bakery courtesy of ODA | click image for larger view]

"The design approach is twofold. The first process involves the conversion of a gas station mechanics garage into a warm, inviting and sustainable environment. The second challenge is to evoke the idea of bakery into an architectural expression that responded to the owner’s tight budget."


[rendering detail courtesy of ODA | click image for larger view]

"Introducing steel channels and wooden dough rollers into the skin of the building, the exterior is transformed from a decaying masonry façade into an innovative rain screen. To reduce the heat island effect caused by the existing asphalt parking area, concrete block and grass is introduced throughout the paving area. The vegetation continues up the building with Boston ivy that will provide a lively red composition to the wooden rainscreen."


[material board courtesy of ODA | click image for larger view]

"All the existing walls, garage doors, and skylights are refurbished and exposed. Working with the existing conditions creates an environment that recognizes the past use of the garage while integrating with the new ideas centered around baking and one of the bakers more important tools, the dough roller."


[interior sketch courtesy of ODA | click image for larger view]