Please Beverage Co.

This project is a renovation of a clay block, heavy wood timber building from the 1970’s thathad been a custom high end car upholstery shop for many years. Hidden behind the partially dismantled carcasses of a Lincoln Continental, Alpha Romeo Spider and Plymouth Valiant was a space with high ceilings, bright natural light that morphed dramatically over the course of the day, and a wildly eccentric structure. At the beginning of the project, the layout and design vision focused on smaller intimate tables housed within an abstracted greenhouse structure where plants were used to define edges and boundaries between light and shadowed spaces. Concurrently, Stephen Tufts in his role as the beverage taste explorer, was developing a visual and flavor library of botanicals, marinated citruses and berries, and soaked spices as the basis of Please’s cocktail recipes. This visual array of soft greens, luminous oranges and yellows along with crimson reds served as an inspiration for the interior palette.

As the design of the cocktail menu and interior design evolved and construction of the distillery started, the phone began to ring from surrounding businesses who were looking for flexible space that would allow for a wide variety of group activities. In mid construction, the design brief changed from a space with small party fixed table and chairs to a flexible room that accommodate both date night conversation and diverse group activities. To provide a high degree of flexibility we proposed a grand table through the centre of the space with rolling planters that could be positioned to allow for smaller seating configurations of tables of 2 or 4 or larger parties. Small concealed rubber casters under the brightly coloured planters allows the planters to be easily rolled to the ends of the table to provide table space for larger parties. The colours of the planters were carefully coordinated with the vibrant artwork by Mega McGrath that runs along an interior canopy and further bursts of colour are provided by the display of ingredients and botanicals at the back bar. The interior steel canopy creates a more intimate space within the double height space and provide a frame for the artwork. A large planter strategically placed under an existing skylight creates a dramatic garden to the room, providing screening to the washrooms and a backdrop for the DJ, acoustic music, trivia night and comedy night events. Under the mezzanine full height mirrors and long span steel beam counter showcase the retail cocktails for those patrons looking to grab a cocktail or two for a night out on the town.