Commercial
Windows for Ada’s
We are big advocates for parcelling out your budget so that you put your money where it really matters, and not towards things that just won't have much of an impact on the design. In the case of Ada's Technical Books & Café, the street-level windows are really important. Here's why, and how we designed them.
June 18, 2013
The windows on 15th Avenue went into Ada's Technical Books and Cafe over the past few days and they're going to surprise some people. While it didn't add much square footage to the front of the old house we did enclose the front porch. We needed some additional area and windows to highlight merchandise as the building isn't directly on the street.
Between these windows will be the old porch columns (now they'll be 4 and not 3 as there originally was) and we really wanted to retain the character of an old house. It was key to spend the money to upgrade from the standard aluminum storefront window system that you see all over town to a window with a more residential level spec. In this we chose Andersen's A Series clad windows with a simulated divided lite spacer. (Read my thoughts on divided lites, and you'll see why we went with the upcharge of simulated divided lites and not stick on muntins.) Andersen makes a great clad window with some really clean detailing. These historic windows align with the more contemporary Andersen 100 Series windows used in the large and open second story space (not shown here).
So, not the cheapest choice, but another example of spending the design dollars where they're needed most. The character of this old house is part of the fabric of this lower height and more intimate scale neighborhood. It's no longer a home but a place we hope loyal customers will feel like is home for years to come. Having familiar and comfortable details surrounding you are the keys to successful character creation in retail spaces.
