chicago ILLINOIS
suckerPUNCH: Describe your project.
Could Be ARCHITECTURE : Could Be Architecture’s exterior signage design and interior architecture radically transform an existing space to create identity and cultivate community for Twisted Hippo Taproom and Eatery, located in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood.
- Could Be ARCHITECTURE, “Twisted Hippo.”, Interior Photo
- Could Be ARCHITECTURE, “Twisted Hippo.”, Interior Photo
- Could Be ARCHITECTURE, “Twisted Hippo.”, Interior Photo
- Could Be ARCHITECTURE, “Twisted Hippo.”, Interior Photo
By positioning vibrantly colored supergraphics and flora within a cavernous existing interior, the design deploys a budget-conscious strategy and material set to articulate a series of companionable “little worlds,” each with their own specificity, intimacy, and character. Bubbly wall and floor graphics articulate the ‘Carbonated Cafe’ up front; custom tables, planters, and an animated scrim position the ‘Communal Core’ in the middle; and a custom acoustic felt cloud installation shelters an intimate banquette and performance platform in the rear. Embracing bold graphics, color, and texture, the design cultivates a character as “weird and approachable” as Twisted Hippo.
sP: What or who influenced the project?
CBA: Pink popsicles, beet juice, and green snow cones.
sP: What were you reading/listening to/watching while developing this project?
CBA: “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo”; “Hippo Stomp”; the George and Martha series (James Marshall); Sidewalk Chalk; and Roy Kinsey.
