Davidson Rafailidis - Together Apart, the adaptive reuse of a dilapidated two-story brick building

Together Apart is the adaptive reuse of a dilapidated two-story brick building in America’s rustbelt. Built in approximately 1900 with a 1940s extension, the historic structure has operated as a grocery store, strip club, attorney’s office, and hair salon, among other businesses, in its past.

We received a brief to transform the space into a cat café for a local entrepreneur. Cat cafés are a unique typology, given health regulations that demand air-tight separation between animals and food preparation—in this case, cats and coffee. This requirement allowed us to expand on our interest in designing partitioned spaces that support programmatic flexibility but still imply and encourage togetherness and community. The project is the first phase of a continual construction scheme on the overarching lot, which responds to new city zoning that encourages high density construction and furthers our efforts to design heterogeneous, mixed-use spaces that service a wide range of users. These can be built as funds are available. The so-far realized form is a part of a future whole. We asked: Could a project—a building—be thought of as a continual construction instead of a single expense incurred all at once?”

The building can be accessed from either end, allowing an independent functioning of both halves while still being physically and visually connected. These heterogeneous zones meet in the middle at a series of transparent, zig-zagged partitions. The kitchen counter is sliced by a glass wall allowing for unexpected visual encounters of cats and cooking. Similarly, terrazzo benches and a continuous light strip are bifurcated by the separation wall but extend into both zones, creating further visual connection. Windows likewise stick halfway into the washroom and halfway into the seating area, and the stepped bathroom is mirrored by the stepped cat-litter-room.

At the building’s rear, the cat area is halved by a folding-sliding façade, which opens onto a gravel patio. A brick wall hems the patio. Stepped on one side, it echoes the zig-zagging form of the adjacent glass partition, and is perforated by two large glass windows at the rear. Surface-mounted onto the exterior, the window’s frame is invisible from the patio’s interior and creates the illusion of an uncovered opening—as if the cats could jump out at any moment. Likewise, it blurs the separation between inside and outside, establishing a continuous sightline connecting the project’s various zones.

The premise of the cluster of distinct gestures is that the wider the array of spatial conditions available, the wider the array of uses will be attracted.

extra high patio (“catio”) enclosure at the rear built to both prevent cats from jumping out, and in anticipation of possible future addition, in the spirit of continual construction. | Florian Holzherr

Mullet style: Business in front, party at the back | Florian Holzherr

zig zag line captures the erratic movement of cats | Florian Holzherr

from inside it looks like an open hole in the wall, as if cats could jump out anytime | Florian Holzherr

brick wall echoes the zig-zagging form of the adjacent glass partition | Florian Holzherr

The kitchen counter is sliced by a glass wall allowing for unexpected visual encounters of cats and cooking. | Florian Holzherr

Cat café interior to the front. | Florian Holzherr

Windows are partly-in and partly-out of the bathrooms. | Florian Holzherr

durable interior finishes that are easy to clean (cat hair!) | Florian Holzherr

View to the front. | courtesy Davidson Rafailidis

Middle: Plan. Top: Elevation Oblique. Bottom: cafe in black, cat zone in tan color | Davidson Rafailidis

Diagram showing the overlapping and intersecting elements, disguising the banal duality of Café and cat zone. | Davidson Rafailidis

The so-far realized form is a part of a future whole. We asked: Could a project—a building—be thought of as a continual construction instead of a single expense incurred all at once?” | Davidson Rafailidis

Café and cats meet in the middle at a series of transparent, zig-zagged partitions. | Davidson Rafailidis

Caption: Interior elements are characterized by breaks, cut-outs, overlaps, zig-zags. The light and the steel beam run straight through as if the zig-zag partition doesn’t exist. | Davidson Rafailidis

The zig-zag partition wall dances around in plan and elevation, making the division between the two separated parts of the space deliberately difficult to read. | Davidson Rafailidis

Showing how surfaces, like the food preparation and dish washing counter, are bifurcated, with one part accessible by cats. | Davidson Rafailidis

Locations of existing windows in the 100+ year old brick shell are negotiated with cut-outs in new elements, like the ceilings of the two new bathrooms. | Davidson Rafailidis

Windows are partly-in and partly-out of the bathrooms. | Davidson Rafailidis

The glass pane is surface mounted to the exterior of the brick wall, creating the illusion of a clear opening, as if the cats could jump out any moment. | Davidson Rafailidis

The pation extension is built like the possible ground level of a new addition, with large windows providing views that are yet to be established. | Davidson Rafailidis

Leftover structural clay bricks sit on pallets at the rear of the property, waiting for the next phase of “continual construction.” | Davidson Rafailidis

Detail of the rear façade. | Davidson Rafailidis

The split between inside and outside at the rear of the building is oversized and flexible, another indistinct boundary in the project. | Davidson Rafailidis

Pandemic summer 2020, envisioning how people could inhabit the area around the building. Long shadows, inspired by de Chirico, stand-in for pandemic blues. | Davidson Rafailidis

"Before" condition of interior | Davidson Rafailidis

"Before" condition of exterior | Davidson Rafailidis

Credits

City: Buffalo
State: USA
Client: Confidential
Completion: 01/2020
Gross Floor Area: 200 sq. m
Architects: Davidson Rafailidis
Design team: Stephanie Davidson, Georg Rafailidis
Main Contractor: CFR Construction
Consultants: John Banaszak Engineer of Record
Photo Credits: Florian Holzherr

Curriculum

Stephanie Davidson, M.Arch, B.E.D.S., B.F., Assistant Prof. RSID Toronto, Canada
Georg Rafailidis, Dipl. Ing. fh., M.A., Associate Prof. State University of New York at Buffalo

Awards and Honors
Emerging Voices Award Architectural League of New York//Architectural Review House Award Winner//AZ Award, Canada//Best of Canada Design Award//Blueprint Award//American Architecture Prize AAP//Architizer A+ Award//DETAIL Prize Finalist//Mac Dowell Fellowship//Storefront for Art and Architecture StreetFest competition winner//Reinventing the Strip Mall Competition Winner//Arch+ competition Simple Systems-Complex Capacities Winner

Publications print
Architectural Review, Domus, Arquine, Bauwelt, DETAIL, AIT, Architect’s Newspaper, Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, Deutsche Bauzeitung, Frame

Academic appointments
RSID Toronto//Peter Behrens School of Art Dusseldorf//University of Toronto//State University of New York//RWTH Aachen University Germany

Tag

#Shortlisted #United States of America #Buffalo #Clay bricks #Oak panels #Terrazzo Flooring #Bar - Café #Davidson Rafailidis #Multifunctional Building - Complex