Studio Luz Architecture and Urban Design

Reimagining Local Business Storefronts

By funkhaus

Since 2018, Studio Luz Architects has revived and restored storefronts belonging to local businesses through the ReStore Boston program. focused on preserving and improving historic facades and storefronts. It is a strategic project to increase the vitality of commercial districts and local businesses, from educational buildings, to high-end retail, to community grocery stores, we have extended modern design to these establishment’s facades and interiors to create breathable and accessible spaces. While the COVID-19 pandemic halted these projects for a time, we have been able to continue our work in recent months with one of the sites moving forward towards construction next year.

One of our current renovations is of the FoodPak store located on Southampton Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts, a predominantly low to middle income area in an urban commercial district of the city. Spearheaded by Studio Luz’s Principal Architects, Hansy Better Barraza and Anthony Piermarini, the new streamlined design plays on contemporary aesthetics and innovative uses of materials.

The renovation design strategy for FoodPak Express takes advantage of the length and orientation of the building to address time and motion in reference to the highway it is positioned next to and folds in the facade to generate a steady rhythm that mimics a pedestrian’s walking pace. As can be seen from an automobile speeding along the highway, the building’s length and bright color palette offers a playful stage for color and motion, which are brought into finer detail for the pedestrian view point.

Storefront Design Iteration
Storefront Design Iteration
Storefront Design

Working directly with local business owners, we meld our passions for modest, beautiful design and community engagement. Many of our storefront projects, either completed or in progress, serve diverse neighborhoods in Boston. It is integral to the Studio Luz mission to establish responsible and meaningful connections between architecture and society, and we are pleased to have an outlet such as this ongoing project to do so.

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