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The Bandsaw Building is a one-story brick structure located on a small parcel of land in Birmingham, Alabama. The entrance ramp to the elevated highway runs behind the hotel and is part of a network of highways that stretches like a spider’s web into the city’s post-industrial areas. Here, on the edge of the city centre, David Baker Architects (DBA) worked the magic of adaptive reuse: there is no parking except for a few bike racks; the designers actually reduced the conditioning area of the existing space; The walls are largely unfinished, exposing layers of paint; various recycled materials have been used both structurally and decoratively.
These design decisions were made jointly by DBA principal Amanda Loper, a proud Alabamian, and her development partner, Kyle Tyree of Locke General Contractors , culminating in a small but powerful act of urbanism.
“Developing in Birmingham feels like you can play at the poker table,” Loper told one. The small-scale work was a welcome change from the larger projects in San Francisco, where she previously lived. “Developing a project there makes you feel like a newbie in Macau,” she said with a smile.
But she still couldn’t do it alone: the whole project relied on groupwork and collaboration, even more so than a typical design project with its expert meetings and joint work. “Working with Kyle was the first and most important step in the process because not only were we contributing capital and design knowledge, but we were deeply invested in this space because it was going to be our home base,” Loper said. , our office.”
The plan is for the DBA’s offices to be located at the rear of the building, with Locke General Contractors retaining a co-working space in the middle, and retail and community space open along the street. To do this, the band saw required a huge overhaul, both structurally and aesthetically. The most rewarding (and difficult) part is designing for varying degrees of procedural change, privacy, and publicity—all for (and with) first-time small business owners.
“Having architects and contractors’ offices in the building makes it easier to get loans, but the wild card is small-scale retail,” Loper said. “However, in Birmingham it’s small projects like this that can gain traction and really have a vitality.”
Bandsaw shows great potential for urban intervention and experimentation in regional cities, sites often overlooked by developers focused on risk-averse valuations. While the “ideal” tenant traditionally needs a track record like Chase or Starbucks, the two partners want tenants looking for a collective space with shared responsibilities, resources and values.
They were surprised by the need they experienced. “There was a lot of interest from a small local group that wanted to try a brick-and-mortar store,” Loper recalls. “Almost everyone recognizes the value of this collective space for emerging energy.”
The search turned up three tenants: June Coffee, Zephyr Barber and Last Call Baking. All homes have standard leases but share resources such as common outdoor spaces and central courtyards. The location is just one block from Second Avenue, a major pedestrian thoroughfare, which means the activity of coffee shops, barbershops, and retailers blends in with the hustle and bustle of the Second Avenue corridor.
Loper’s voice was thick with emotion as he described the queues at Last Call Bake Shop every morning: “The pastry chef asked for design help to design a new box that would meet daily needs.” And the bike rack could indeed replace the previous one. Parking is at a minimum. “They were always packed, with people streaming out of the café space into the private courtyard of the studio we originally envisioned,” she added. “I like it.”
While post-industrial cities across the country have many successful case studies of converting industrial spaces into community and cultural uses, Loper makes it clear that this project exceeded even her expectations. “It felt like a partnership between myself, Kyle and the tenants. Naturally, we provided pro bono design services in brainstorming the layout of the space and selecting materials,” she said. Later, Loper and Tyree helped plan and design new expansion projects to help each business grow and meet post-opening needs.
“It was a small-scale project, but we stayed within budget,” Loper said. She attributes this not only to her work with Tyree, but also to the lasting network of construction and fabrication professionals she developed over the course of the project. A local brickmaker told the pair about an exciting new product he was about to supply, and a steel manufacturer recommended economical sizes and quantities. A concrete subcontractor looked at the budget, then looked at the square footage, and said, “You only have cash for 30% of this space.” They only completed 30% of what they could afford and moved on.
These stories, constraints, and ideals don’t affect the design; they do. They enhance its uniqueness. The layered look of the space is shared throughout the project and adds a sensibility rooted in authenticity, time and materials that cannot be achieved any other way.
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