Thursday, January 7, 2016

A Warped Sense of Humor

So we are architect of record for a restaurant project called “Double Gallows” in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.  It is a small neighborhood bar type establishment, and we inherited the project from another architect to help the client get a building permit.

The interior will be an exposed structure ceiling common in many restaurants nowadays.  There is a small vestibule at the front entrance and the interior designer wanted the tile to come up to eight feet but was uncertain how to terminate it.  It was discussed to put in a drywall ceiling but we would have to rework a mechanical duct to work with the new ceiling. 

So I thought of the name – Double Gallows.  Just how far might the client want to take this concept?  I decided to find out.  I proposed to the interior designer that we put wood trim at the top of the tile, raise the height enough and have a couple of faux trap doors with hinges on either side of the opening.  Then hang two nooses from the underside of the roof deck.  

Voila…double gallows!   Okay, so they didn’t want to take the theme THAT far.

But the interior designer thought it might be cool to do the trim and drape string ropes across the underside of the roof deck to allude to the ropes.  Showing that being a smart arse can lead to unusual but creative solutions.  It also shows that enjoying The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes wasn't for naught.

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