Blanchard’s Morris St

Renovation - Hospitality - Richmond, VA

Born in the middle of the pandemic, Blanchards’ idea was to create a place that felt accessible and welcoming for window service but could pivot to an indoor café when it was safe for people to be close to one another inside.  We began by thinking about the intimacy and comfort of a walled courtyard, a hidden park in the middle of a city.   The materials used, plywood and corrugated plastic, are a nod to the concept that the café would be evolving, always “under construction.”   Our goal was to make a space that felt approachable but innovative, its temporality an asset rather than an unfortunate constraint.  

The lack of initial indoor seating allowed us to use the space for display while window service was in effect.  We designed a panelized wall with a single curved corner, a nod to Blanchards’ spatial identity, to present all of Blanchards’ offerings as both art and retail.   Once it seemed like indoor service was becoming possible, we split up all those shelved panels and used them to define spaces inside the store.  We blocked off the clear view to the bathrooms, defined the path to the service counter, and lined the walls with the display to add color and texture.  The flexible nature of the space gave us free reign to have fun, evidenced most clearly in the bathroom - a floating cube of clouds.  There is no conceptual connection to the rest of the cafe, it exists solely to present a little surprise, a small moment of joy for visitors.