North of Brooklyn Eighth Branch in Toronto: A Design That Integrates Functionality and Social Spaces
Design of the Eighth Branch of North of Brooklyn in Toronto
The eighth branch of the North of Brooklyn chain is located in the Etobicoke neighborhood of Toronto. It serves as an example of how to merge a fast-food service environment with the refined character of social spaces.
Space Distribution
The venue is organized over two floors to create a seamless experience for visitors. The ground floor focuses on practical functions, housing the kitchen and the counter for ready-to-eat meals, facilitating customer flow and ensuring speedy service.
Upper Floor: Spaces for Relaxation and Interaction
In contrast to the ground floor, the upper floor transforms into a quieter area, including a bar and dining room, allowing visitors to relax and interact in a comfortable environment away from the bustle of the ground floor.
Balancing Functionality and Aesthetics
The design represents a balanced blend of practical and aesthetic considerations. Both floors offer a comprehensive experience that combines speed with comfort, highlighting the importance of strategic spatial planning to enhance the user experience.
Entrance Experience and Visual Facade
Upon entering the branch, visitors pass under a large illuminated canopy bearing the North of Brooklyn logo, creating a striking visual moment reminiscent of the opening scenes in Star Wars. This experience highlights how interior architecture can influence visitors’ initial mood and capture their attention from the very first moment.
Design Continuity and Materials
The illuminated canopy extends inside to form the ceiling of the ready-to-eat order area, fully covering the space with custom-designed DTILE tiles. These tiles are not merely decorative elements—they help connect the walls to the ceiling in a continuous sweep, giving the space a sense of continuity and fluidity.
Functionality and Visual Integration
The tiles also extend outward to form practical hooks for product display, blurring the traditional boundaries between surface and structural element. This integration of aesthetics and functionality reflects architectural thinking that balances form with use, enhancing both the visual and practical interaction of visitors with the space.
Upper Floor: An Italian Touch with Modernity
The Low Rise bar and dining room draw inspiration from classic Italian design, reinterpreted with a contemporary touch suited to the vibe of a modern city. This blend of traditional and contemporary elements enhances the visitor experience by offering a sense of nostalgia and warmth simultaneously.
Seating Layout and Materials Used
The space accommodates approximately 40 seats arranged around a large bar covered with polished marble mosaic. The bar’s countertop features zinc that gradually changes color over time, giving the space a continually renewed appearance rich in nostalgia and highlighting the unique character of the design.
Lighting and Ambiance
A fluted hanging chandelier from In Common With casts a warm glow, creating an intimate and distinctive dining experience. This thoughtful use of lighting emphasizes the material elements and enhances the sense of comfort and immersion within the space, demonstrating how small details can have a significant impact on the user experience.
Enhancing Natural Light
To increase the amount of natural light within the branch, new windows were added to the side façade. This modification not only boosts illumination but also creates a visual connection with the external environment, giving visitors a sense of openness and comfort while dining.
Furniture Integration with Design
Walnut dining tables are partially cantilevered from the walls, seamlessly nesting within the window niches. This design highlights how furniture can become an integral part of the architecture itself, rather than serving solely as independent elements.
Materials, Colors, and Visual Interaction
The tables feature folded steel legs and are complemented with green leather fittings inspired by the Tube chair for the Colombo design. This combination of color, materials, and form creates a subtle visual interaction, emphasizing attention to small details that add aesthetic depth and a complete sensory experience for visitors.
Managing Low Ceiling Heights
To address the low ceiling heights, mechanical systems were concentrated around the perimeter of the space, allowing the central area of the ceiling to be raised. This strategy demonstrates how smart planning of technical systems can enhance the sense of space without compromising functionality.
Visual Design and Lighting
The ceiling is shaped as a rounded-rectangle, accentuated by hidden cove lighting that highlights the texture of the popcorn ceiling. This use of lighting creates a visual contrast with the lower bulkhead, painted in high-gloss finish, adding a dynamic dimension to the space.
✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight
The design combines geometric planning with innovative lighting to amplify the room’s dynamics, giving visitors a sense of openness and comfort despite technical constraints related to ceiling height. This underscores the importance of strategic thinking in small architectural details to achieve significant visual and functional impact.
Although the North of Brooklyn branch in Toronto demonstrates a clear attention to floor distribution and internal circulation, reflecting an ability to integrate practical functions with social spaces, certain aspects raise questions from a broader architectural perspective. For instance, concentrating mechanical systems around the perimeter to allow for a raised central ceiling offers a practical solution but imposes limitations on future flexibility in reconfiguring the spaces. Similarly, relying on custom tiles that connect walls and ceiling enhances visual continuity, yet it may limit the ability to modify the design or repurpose materials in other contexts.
Moreover, the Italian-inspired touchesه on the upper floor add a distinct aesthetic character, but they may not align with the expectations of a diverse audience or with requirements for a more neutral and functional design. Regarding natural lighting and the materials used for tables and seating, they provide a balanced sensory experience, though it may be worthwhile to consider their long-term impact on maintenance or on the costs of renovation and updates.
In short, this project can be seen as an opportunity to understand how design balances functionality and aesthetics, while recognizing that certain material and technical choices may limit future adaptability. This makes the project a valuable study for architects in the context of sustainability, reuse, and long-term planning.
✅ Official ArchUp Technical Review completed for this article.