Bird Blog: Week 12

Every week, Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Bird boutiques, tells us about the new 2,500-square-foot store on Grand Street in Williamsburg that she’s getting ready to open. After a break in the publishing schedule last week, the dives back in this week with a discussion of the different materials being considered for the project…There’s nothing like a looming store renovation to send my normally out-of-control magazine habit well over the top. Dwell, Architectural Digest, Domino, Metropolitan Home, Wallpaper, Elle Décor, Martha Stewart Living, Ready Made, Real Simple, you name it, I’ve been reading it. After a million articles, it was finally time to start putting some of that inspiration into a project of my own.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous as I headed over to Ole’s office to see his preliminary designs…

…Even though we had worked so well together for the past months (and had only disagreed a handful of times), architectural design is always a strange process, at once collaborative and singularly visionary. What if I didn’t like it? What if it was nothing like I had imagined? Of course, my fears were immediately put to rest. It was a hundred times better!

After a couple of marathon meetings, we had a clear sense of what we’d like to achieve and how to do it. Sarah built an amazing 3-D model that really makes it easy to see what the store will look like, and how different ideas would play out in the space. We are currently waiting on the preliminary contractor bids, so for a few more weeks I can fantasize about getting to build it just as it is on paper. Soon enough, in an effort to reduce costs, I’m sure I’ll be changing the copper skylight boxes to painted plywood. But for now, let’s just discuss potential materials.

Floors: We have decided to keep the exposed concrete floors in the north portion of the store. We will simply grind, polish and finish them with linseed oil. Beautiful and inexpensive. We have also decided to keep the maple floors in the south portion of the store. To ensure a cohesive feeling throughout, we will sand them and stain them gray to match the concrete. The only new flooring to be added is Mediterra cork from Capri, a member of the US Green Building Council. The USGBC is the non-profit organization known for developing the LEED building rating system. All Capri cork products contribute to LEED credits. It is a natural, durable and renewable resource, quiet, comfortable, and perfect for the dressing room floors. One thing I know is that standing barefoot on cold concrete will not inspire you to take off your clothes.

Walls: The brick walls in the north portion of the store are stunningly beautiful, and will be left exposed. We have not yet discussed the options for cleaning them or sealing them. I definitely don’t want them too stripped down or shiny, but can’t have them flaking all over the clothes either. We are considering building our new walls with Kirei Board. Kirei Board is manufactured from reclaimed sorghum stalks in Northern China. The stalks of this food crop are usually burned or thrown into landfills after harvest. Kirei Board manufacturing brings a new source of revenue to the region, all while removing the material from the waste stream and reducing landfill and air pollution. Kirei Board also has no added formaldehyde. I also love the cellular pattern and color variations of the finished product. It has both warm and cool tones and should look amazing with the gray floors. We will use this to build three vertical towers to enclose the dressing rooms, the bathroom and a small office. We are also debating using it along the length of the right-hand wall in the south portion. It is expensive (3’x 6′ sheets cost between $160-$270), and I have mixed feelings about buying anything coming all the way from China, sustainable or not, so we’ll have to see.

Bathroom: I chose a beautiful blue and green multi-colored IceStone for the bathroom floors. IceStone is a durable surface material made of 100% recycled concrete and glass, manufactured in a very sustainable day-lit factory right here in Brooklyn. With VOC-free, high recycled content and cradle-to-cradle certification, IceStone is ideal for projects seeking LEED certification. It is a perfect modern-day, local alternative to terrazzo. We are weighing the options of saving the toilets, or replacing them with low-flow models. The jury is still out.

Lighting: We want to keep it very simple and will probably go with custom-made metal pendant lamps throughout the store. We are going to rely heavily on the abundant natural daylight from the skylights, and hopefully won’t even need any artificial light in the north portion of the store, at least during the summer. We are waiting for a more detailed recommendation from our LEED commissioning agent to make any further decisions.

Checkout Area: This is my favorite part of the store! In my current locations we don’t have any room to spare, so we are always multi-tasking everything. Our checkout counter is also usually our workspace, our wrapping/shipping/receiving area, and the jewelry display case. Now we will finally have a bit of room to stretch out. We are going to crush the tiles we saved from the demo and use them to pour two concrete planters under the skylights and one luxuriously long checkout counter. It is big enough to have two workstations with plenty of room for wrapping packages. I can’t wait.

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