Robust Reinvention, Part III

First Place in VMSD's Renovation Competition
Conversion – Specialty Store, Sales Area Under 10,000 sq. ft.
Patagonia – Meatpacking District, New York
Submitted by: MNA, New York

Known for its green ethos and love of authenticity, Patagonia naturally chose a historic building in New York’s Meatpacking District for its latest location.

According to Jeff Rudy, principal, MNA (New York), Patagonia usually makes small renovations to its properties as needed, but opts to leave the spaces as close to their original incarnations as possible. And, while the new location’s façade exuded age, the interior had been gutted and left an empty box.

To provide an authentic motif, MNA searched historical archives about the neighborhood’s buildings and period materials. Reclaimed ceiling beams, flooring and brick were sourced from demolished buildings in Lower Westchester and near the High Line, “keeping it local and true to the neighborhood,” Rudy says.

The space would be incomplete without its functional meat rail – the same tool butchers currently use throughout the U.S. and a nod to the neighborhood’s namesake – that connects the store’s three rooms and works as its fixturing system.

“They had a blank canvas within a new shell, but made it appear as if a vintage space was retrofitted,”  says judge Tom Kowalski, vp, design, Interbrand Design Forum (Dayton, Ohio).

For more first place winners and honorable mentions from VMSD's 2014 Renovation Competition, please check vmsd.com throughout the month of September for parts IV-VII.

For the full article in VMSD's September issue, click here.

Click here for Part I.
Click here for Part II.