Verde Cocina
Following a late summer fire, we led the design for a renovation and complete overhaul of this landmark restaurant.
The original building on this storied location – at the Sylvan exit of Oregon Highway 26 between downtown Portland and Beaverton – was a simple residence built in the 1950’s. The residence doubled as home to a local brick manufacturer, explaining the historic, gorgeous, clinker brickwork that has come to define this structure ever since.
In the very first part of the 1980’s, Bellevue, WA-based architecture firm Thomas & Greiner Architects helped to expand and convert the structure to suit new client Big Red’s Bar & Grill, which became a local icon.
Big Red’s owned and operated the property until the early 2010’s, at which point the Garnica Family purchased the property, converting it into the flagship location of their local “Farm-to-Fork + Mexican Flair” coveted restaurant, Verde Cocina.
At the height of the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, Verde Cocina suffered a devastating fire that shut their restaurant down for over a year to come.
Following the fire, we were brought on board to not only help repair the damage done to the building, but to use this opportunity to completely renovate and expand the restaurant.
This work involved adding a new second story onto the existing structure, complete with two new outdoor rooftop dining areas. In addressing the notoriously dark environment in the restaurant, we cut a large hole in the floor of the second story, allowing natural northern light to flood the entire space via clerestory windows on the upper floor.
With energy efficiency and sustainable design in mind, major upgrades were included in our design of the building. Upgrades included radiant floor heating, closed-cell foam insulated walls, automated and user-operated natural ventilation systems, ultra-efficient structural insulated panel (SIP) roof construction, and the installation of a large, active, rooftop photovoltaic solar array.
This work was all wrapped up with upgrades to make the restaurant more inclusive and accessible to guests of all abilities.
