Commercial Architecture April 2019 - 46

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PROJECT

| interiors

San Diego's newest beer hall, Nolita Hall, located
in the city's Little Italy neighborhood, presents the
atmosphere of a European beer hall with Italian
design flourishes.

shuffleboard, drink cocktails, and eat good food."
Working with Tecture, Hamm succeeded in creating an engag-

To keep interest piqued, the display is constantly updated with

pays homage to San Diego's outdoor culture, and incorporates

food and beer specials, clever quotes, and any other information

design elements reminiscent of the neighborhood's namesake.

that Hamm or the managers choose to share.

"San Diego has one of the best climates in the country,"

"We build things that you can't find off the shelf," Oat Found-

Michael continued. "When designing this space, we wanted to

ry co-founder and CEO Mark Kuhn IV said. "The split-flap dis-

capitalize on that and truly blend the indoors and outdoors with

play is the perfect addition to the Nolita Hall experience."

In November 2017, Hamm purchased the 6,500-sq.-ft. proper-

built out the largest mechanized glass doors in Little Italy, creating four disparate systems made up of a quad-fold system, normal

vation he added an enormous 10-ft. x 60-ft. skylight, which has

large pivot doors, a counter-weighted door, and horizontal slider

become the space's show-stopping feature.

doors in all different locations.

"I put in this ridiculously big window at the top of the build-

Now a defining characteristic of the restaurant, the door

ing, and it wasn't until later that I realized it could be used to give

installation proved to be a challenging feat for the team. "You can

guests an experience that they cannot get at any other restaurant,

design things really well on a computer, but until you get to the

anywhere," Hamm explained.

project site it's all trial and error," Michael said. "It's a technical

The team quickly came to realize that Nolita Hall lies right

* Black Swan Hospitality,
blackswanhospitality.com
* Nolita Hall, nolitahall.com
* Oat Foundry, oatfoundry.com
* San Diego Architectural Foundation,
sdarchitecture.org

APRIL 2019

Adding to the blending of the indoors and outdoors, Tecture

ty and gutted it to create an open environment. During the reno-

underneath a flight path into San Diego International Airport, so

Sources listed below are linked at
commercialarchitecturemagazine.
com/1904tecture.

totally unique to us," Hamm commented.

ing environment that effortlessly blends interior and exterior,

key architectural and design elements."

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Inc. (tectureinc.com)?
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"We are really able to delight guests and generate conversations

puzzle. But we enjoy doing things differently, and in this case, it
paid off."

much so that planes fly overhead only a few hundred feet above

Tecture also added big communal tables (an elevated take on

the ground. When they came to terms with the fact that sound

the classic picnic table), acrylic light transmitters, and a cus-

proofing the building wasn't possible, they decided on the next

tom-wood bar and kitchen window to differentiate it from other

best thing: to fully embrace it.

restaurants in the area. "We chose calming materials that created

Hamm turned to Oat Foundry, a Philadelphia-based engineer-

the ambiance we were going for," Michael said.

ing and design firm that specializes in classic train station-style

Nolita Hall opened in April 2018 to great reviews, and quickly

split-flap displays, to create a new, engaging experience that makes

earned a 2018 Orchids & Onions Design Award from the San

the eatery's location a draw. Hamm asked the Oat Foundry engi-

Diego Architectural Foundation. "Every project and property I

neering team to program their retro split-flap display with a cus-

acquire starts with the underlying belief that regardless of loca-

tom Flight Tracker API that delivers real-time flight information

tion, use, or financial underwriting, it should have potential to

for airplanes as they pass overhead flying to or from the

become something special and provide a certain 'wow factor'

airport.

with aesthetics and design," Hamm said. "This can be done suc-

When a plane flies loudly over Nolita Hall, the split flap

cessfully in a number of different ways. It can be simple and sub-

begins clacking, and guests turn their heads in anticipation to see

tle, or unexpected and bold. Often times, and I think in this case,

the flight origin and number appear on the display in real time.

it's the perfect combination of both." CA

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T UREM AG A ZINE.COM

http://www.tectureinc.com http://www.commercialarchitecture.com/1904tecture http://www.blackswanhospitality.com http://www.nolitahall.com http://www.oatfoundry.com http://www.sdarchitecture.org

Commercial Architecture April 2019

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