Sweetgrass Pharmacy at Carolina Park

During the first design meeting with the Owner’s of Sweetgrass Pharmacy, we discussed the architecture of the building reinforcing their existing pharmacy brand, the use of natural looking materials to provide a warm and welcoming building and the desire for a forward-looking, modern building to match the innovation that happens in their compounding lab. The property fronts Park Avenue Boulevard in Carolina Park, Mount Pleasant, which allowed for the building to hold a strong street presence with the main customer entrance, a take on the corner store entry, near the parking and drive-through lane. Materials were chosen for their warmth, texture and durability, and include Meridian Brick “Magnolia Bay” in queen size, Nichiha Vintage Wood siding in a cedar tone and Hardie Artisan V-Groove siding.

Main customer entry with an angled inset and steep canopy is a contemporary derivative of the corner store entry.

Detail view of main corner entrance with angled steel canopy.

Daytime view from Park Avenue Boulevard in Carolina Park, Mount Pleasant.

Evening view from Park Avenue Boulevard in Carolina Park, Mount Pleasant.

Avian Pavilion at Camp Hall Village

Santee Cooper’s Camp Hall is a next generation commerce park where “people, nature and productivity connect.” With state-of-the-art manufacturing in a setting of vast natural beauty, the design concept of “Nature and the Machine” permeates the built environment. Like the vehicles and machines produced in Camp Hall, the architecture is intended to embody precision, sleekness and innovation. With bird protection and awareness as a major focus for Camp Hall, the architecture likewise found its inspiration. The building forms are abstract interpretations of the patterns, colors, and figures found in native species. The “Avian Pavilion” hovers over the lake greeting visitors with outspread wings, encouraging visitors to take refuge from the sun, birdwatch, and learn more about Camp Hall’s mission.

This month we are finalizing the detailing and engineering discipline coordination to bring this vision to life. Special thanks to our talented collaborators:

Structural Engineering: ADC Engineering Consultants

Electrical Engineering: DWG Engineering

Civil / Landscape Architecture: Seamon Whiteside

General Contractor: Choate Construction

Exploded axonometric of the Camp Hall Village’s Avian Pavilion

Studies for RGBW lighting options

Conceptual site layout of the Avian Pavilion access centered on future Training Centers for Camp Hall Village

Coastal Fertility Specialists - Nexton's Newest Addition

South Carolina’s premier fertility center, Coastal Fertility Specialists, has opened their newest facility in the Nexton neighborhood to better serve patients in the Summerville area. As experienced experts with high pregnancy rates and national patient satisfaction awards, Coastal Fertility Specialists wanted a forward-thinking, modern design to align with their practice. This was achieved with the use of edited forms, clean lines, and a material palette including Nichiha siding, steel, glass and brick.

Construction: Harbor Contracting

Photos: Chris Smith

Firefly Distillery Wins National Architectural Woodwork Institute Award of Excellence

Thanks to the Architectural Woodwork Institute for recognizing the Firefly Distillery’s interior woodwork design and execution with a 2021 Award of Excellence. The purpose of AWI’s award is to “honor the Architect for design of product, the Owner’s support of the design concept and the Architectural Woodwork Manufacturer for the faithful execution of the design and quality criteria.” Firefly’s new facility certainly had this hat trick of criteria but with a side of craftsmanship, clear communication and trust among all parties; basically, an architect’s dream. The project was featured in the spring issue of AWI’s Design Solutions magazine which can be found here. Thanks to the teams at Lowcountry Case + Millwork and Trident Construction and to our client, Firefly Distillery, for trusting us with your brand and new facility design.

“We wanted to have a rustic feel to stay true to the authentic nature of our brand. Our architect spent a lot of inspirational time at the distillery and brought us many samples of wood from which to choose.”

Jay MacMurphy, General Manager, Firefly Distillery

“We have a great, long-standing relationship with Rush Dixon Architects. Over the years, we have worked on many projects together throughout the Charleston area. We have developed an excellent relationship of collaboration and trust. It was very refreshing to have such openness and flexibility from the architect, general contractor and the Owner on this project.”

David Stasiukaitus, CEO, Low Country Case + Millwork

“Low Country Case + Millwork proved, once again, to be master craftsmen for this project through suggesting detail improvements and impeccable execution.”

Rush Dixon Architects

Charleston Artist | Mary Edna Fraser

Our charge for the design of the Daniel Island Recreation Center for the City of Charleston, SC was to tie the new facility to the surrounding Charleston and Daniel Island context. This carried through to the interior art and graphics design with a main focal point by renowned Charleston artist, Mary Edna Fraser. “Daniel Island Nocturne” in a triptych format will proudly grace the community room ante room.

We first learned of Mary Edna Fraser when we moved to Charleston in the early 90s; her batiks are captivating and her process is inspired through her own aerial photography. Beyond that, is a commitment to the environment, education and activism. In her own words, “Photographing from the open cockpit of my family’s vintage plane, wind in my face translates to batiks on silk, distilling the adventure into a moment of visual poetry…Conveying breathtaking perspectives of space, earth, and deep sea is my life’s work, developed with leading experts in the fields of planetary science, coastal geology, and oceanography.” Please visit her website here.

We are fortunate to have clients like the City of Charleston who believe in and support not only public art but local artists. This facility will be open to the public beginning in the summer of 2021; stay tuned for project completion and professional photos of the installation.

Rush Dixon Architects rendering for the interior installation at the Daniel Island Recreation Center’s community room.

Camp Hall Village Park Pavilions

It’s coming up on two years since Rush Dixon Architects was selected as the architect and designer for Santee Cooper’s Camp Hall Village Center; since then we have helped imagine the masterplan layout, phasing approach and concept architecture for the future buildings of this “next generation commerce park.” The overarching design concept of “Nature + Machine” marries the manufacturing nature of Camp Hall’s partners (looking at your Volvo SC) with the surrounding natural preserves.

With state-of-the-art manufacturing in a setting of vast natural beauty, the design concept of “Nature and the Machine” permeates the built environment. Like the vehicles and machines produced in Camp Hall, the Architecture is intended to embody precision, sleekness, and innovation.

With bird protection and awareness as a major focus for Camp Hall, the Architecture likewise found its inspiration.  The building forms are abstract interpretations of the patterns, colors, and figures found in native species. The “Avian Pavilion” hovers over the lake greeting visitors with outspread wings,  encouraging visitors to take refuge from the sun, birdwatch, and learn more about Camp Hall’s mission. [Camp Hall website]

Click here for a video prepare by Seamon Whiteside capturing our building designs for the village center: https://youtu.be/utZ-tb50I-Q

Main Park Pavilion Rendering

The first structures out of the ground will be open-air pavilions located in the Camp Hall Village park. The programmatic function is to provide gathering areas, places for viewing passive play areas as well as recreational courts and fields. The architectural design language will be established in this first phase through sculptural forms articulated with geometric framework and clad in a manner that harkens to patterns found in nature. The park pavilions act as pieces of sculpture in the landscape. Origami was also an influence as demonstrated in the Main Park Pavilion ‘folded’ roof form. Collaborators ADC Engineering (structural engineering), DWG Engineering (electrical engineering), Seamon Whiteside (landscape architecture) and Choate Construction (general contractor) have proven once again to be great company to keep in bringing the first structures to life. Stay tuned for construction updates and future events.

Main Park Concept Sketch

Several shade structures will be placed throughout the park for passive play area and recreation activity viewing.

Early concept for the main park pavilion

Firefly Distillery | Good Times. Great Spirits.

When we began the design for Firefly Distillery’s new facility, the first step was to visit their existing distillery and tasting room on Wadmalaw Island, SC to learn their history, better understand their brand, see their process, and sample some spirits. (Spoiler alert: they’re good.) Before putting pen to paper, it was important for us to know how Firefly started, where they are going, how they differentiated themselves in the industry and thus what functional spaces and visitor experiences to help create within the architecture.

The next couple of years included distillery research (see our Distillery Homework blog), design iterations and construction. The new facility opened in February 2020 and enjoyed a few weeks of hosting a record breaking number of visitors before the pandemic dialed down indoor gatherings. Firefly was able to pivot their distilling efforts to produce hand sanitizer to meet the moment and are now able to safely host visitors at the outdoor courtyard, tastings on the porch and socially distanced outdoor concerts.

Highlights of our research and how it dovetailed into our design

Firefly is a locally owned, family business who was one of the South Carolina Lowcountry’s best kept secrets until their inspired collaboration with the neighboring Charleston Tea Garden yielded ‘Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka’. Ever since, they have enjoyed a national audience and are a destination for tours, tastings and events. Therefore the building program included a gift shop, distillery, bottling line, lab, a tasting room, spirits retail section and multiple places for events (weddings, receptions, smaller meetings and outdoor concerts.)

The Firefly brand is southern, approachable, and laid back in the best way possible; think sitting on your porch with a drink in your hand, friends nearby and bluegrass playing in the background. This told us that while this will be a brand new, code-compliant facility, there should be moments of patina and casualness. Specialty craftspeople really brought the ‘soul’ into this new building. Shout out to coppersmiths, Khalima Lights for their handmade light fixtures, Limelight for the signage installation, Gil Shuler for the branding graphics and Lowcountry Case + Millwork for sourcing the reclaimed wood and executing our barrel stave design.

The Firefly folks, while innovative and forward-thinking, are also nostalgic and rustic with a side order of DIY. This inspired us to deconstruct wooden bourbon barrels in the back of our studio and incorporate them into the bar and light fixture designs as well as source reclaimed wood for paneling and metal roofing from a former Firefly structure as an interior accents.

The tasting bar design was born from deconstructing wooded barrels and alternating the position resulting in a varied texture and color rooted in distillery life. Bar counter is a custom copper fabrication. Beyond the bar is the spirits retail display where visitors can purchase bottles. Custom display / cabinetry designed by Rush Dixon Architects and crafted by Lowcountry Case + Millwork.

Copper nails make up the Firefly logo behind the check out counter. (Shout out to Limelight Signs for the many, many, many hours of hammering to get this effect.)

The gift shop greets visitors with a soaring, reclaimed wood clad vaulted space.

The day we discovered Khalima Lights, a local husband and wife team that handcrafts custom light fixtures, was a good day. Located on Wadmalaw Island, they produced all of the specialty lighting. Shown here are deconstructed barrel stave “clouds” designed by Rush Dixon Architects with Khalima’s Waycaster pendant and Edison bulbs.

The gallery where tour groups gather to begin the guided distillery tour, showcases Firefly Distillery’s history and process. Gil Shuler and Limelight were the MVPs of the info graphics and execution.

The distillery and tank room where the magic happens. Special thanks to Vendome Copper and Dalkita.

After the distillery tour, visitors are invited to a tasting bar to sample spirits of their choice. The back bar was designed to allow for the current Firefly spirit products to be displayed. Reclaimed metal roofing and wood was utilized to provide a rustic feel.

Close up of the spirits retail display which needed to be locked down during events. Rolling barrel stave screens slide to secure the products while maintaining visual connection.

We don’t know much, but we do know how to keep good company. See below for some of the all-star collaborators and craftspeople:

• Seamon Whiteside: Civil Engineering + Landscape Architecture

• ADC Engineering: Structural Engineering

• Charleston Engineering: Mechanical, Plumbing, Electrical, Fire Protection Engineering

• Dalkita: Distillery Consultant

• Trident Construction: General Contractor

• Gil Shuler: Graphic Design + Branding

• Limelight Custom Sign Company: Signage

• Khalima Lights: hand-made specialty lighting

• Lowcountry Case + Millwork: interior millwork including tasting bars, spirits retail display, reclaimed wood paneling and barrel stave details.

• Chris Smith Photography: All photographs

Charleston Modern Infill - UPDATE

This speculative infill development included three single family residences located in the Cannonborough neighborhood in downtown Charleston. The client’s desire for a modern aesthetic with durable, low maintenance materials was executed with cementitious V-groove and lap siding on a stucco base. Now two of the three residences have been completed by Zourzoukis Homes and are for sale.

Click HERE for a link to the listing and additional photos by our friends at Birchin Lane Realty.