Our assignment was to select a non-profit organization and design a new flagship location in the Lower East Side of Manhattan (at 231 Bowery Ave). When selecting a non-profit to serve as my “client”, I immediately thought of Hot Bread Kitchen. I first learned of the organization during my days as a professional baker because of their food incubator program, which provides startup food businesses with rentable commercial kitchen space and business development support. But it is Hot Bread Kitchen’s admirable primary mission—to teach women with serious barriers to employment how to bake—that made me want to design a new conceptual space for them.

Designed with the notion that when inside the space one should be able to “smell bread everywhere”, this three-story flagship location is a bread-lover’s paradise. At the entrance is a cafe, selling fresh bread and pastries made in-house, and then just beyond is a grocery store showcasing products from Hot Bread Kitchen’s food incubator program as well as other local goods. Guests also have the opportunity to enjoy a meal at the restaurant, learn how to bake in one of the cooking classrooms, and see the organization’s mission at work in the interactive commercial kitchen. Not only is the new flagship location designed to give Hot Bread Kitchen a multitude of ways to engage with the community through these public spaces, but it also provides the organization with the necessary private space to run their training and food incubator programs.

At the core of the design is custom-designed square “spiral” staircase, which provides both vertical circulation throughout the space as well as “punched-in” shelving space for grocery items and visual displays. The overall look meshes the industrial look of the Lower East Side, particularly the Bowery, with softer elements more frequently associated with bakeries and French brasseries.