KEEN Garage, Palo Alto

Project Brief

• Size: 2611 sf (243 Sq m)

• Location: Palo Alto CA, USA

• Role: Project owner, agency compliance, lease, full design including all fixtures and built-ins, project execution and budgets.  

The materials used in branded environments say a lot about the values of that brand. KEEN likes to showcase clever salvaging and repurposing in their corporate and retail environments. I did a lot of sourcing for this project and the stuff I found determined what I made with it. Chairs out of fire extinguishers, a Kids display out of industrial springs, cash wraps out of nice wide-flange I beams, and above it all, a cashwrap canopy made from 8 VW Beetle hoods from the 60’s and 70’s. Even the floor was torn up and painstakingly re-laid from a Victorian house a few miles away.  I love to walk around in a salvage yard and try to imagine what could be used for what. Almost everything was sourced locally. The exception was some Marston mat I wanted to use but could only find in quantity in the American midwest.

Project Highlights (It's All About the Sourcing)

Cashwrap from Wideflange I Beams

I searched along time for these wide flange I beams and finally found them at a deconstruction yard hidden behind a bunch of other materials. They are the perfect width and depth and had just enough patina to communicate their prior life as something else. The master craftsmen at Cheney Metals used a hand held acetylene cutting torch to cut the members to size then textured the cut with a needle scaler, leaving the rippled appearance but removing any sharp edges. The timber was taken from a deconstructed dock by San Fransisco and the “bolts" holding everything together are old scaffolding jacks.  The cashwrap front pieces are decommissioned license plates arranged  in a herringbone sort of pattern. 

Kids Display from Springs

When I found some nice industrial springs, I knew I wanted to make something from them but it took a while to settle on what. Subsequent finds of a massive glu-lam beam section and some beautiful articulating industrial casters tipped the scales to the Kids shoe display. The caps at the top of the springs are actually the cut off ends of fire extinguishers that were used on some planter benches found elsewhere in the project. 

Cashwrap Canopy From VW Hoods

I knew I wanted to use automotive elements for the cashwrap canopy and thought that muscle car hoods from the 60’s might be fun. But I’ve learned that it’s wiser to see what’s available than to get set on an idea in advance. I went to a secret auto wrecking yard in the rolling farmland of Watsonville CA that does not show on any google search or business listing. I’m not even sure how I know about it but it has a very interesting collection of cars dating back to the 40’s. I spent hours there walking the property and seeing what was possible. In the end I found 8 Volkswagen Beetle hoods.  I really like the way they curve up when inverted.  

I designed a simple armature to support the array but when the inspector saw it, he insisted on seismic reinforcement. I like the finished result but if doing it again, I would’ve painted the hoods a uniform color.