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Award - Merit

Project - Creative Alliance Cafe

Category - Interior Architecture

Project Location - 3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21224

Architects - Kroiz Architecture

Associated Architects - PI.KL Studio

Owner/Developer - Creative Alliance

Contractor - PI.KL Studio

Photographer(s) - PI.KL Studio

Jury Comments - This was a fun, but intense little project, in particular, the use of materials for the project – the reclaimed wood, the combination of the brick juxtiposing the concrete and then the vibrant mural against the rear. It’s awfully easy to take a relatively small project and, in an effort to create interest, add more “notes” than are really necessary. This is a project that shows wonderful restraint. The existing building remains as a found shell and the few interventions are very thoughtful and discreet, not overwrought in any way. In that regard, it does much with very little. It looked like the architect had fun doing this project and it looked like it’d be a fun place to visit. We liked the way they used the color, keeping the palette very restrained relative to the original materials’ quality generating the color throughout and then the painting in the way it’s lit becoming visible as you enter from outside, creating a very powerful wall.