The Sunrise Auto Co-Op was born in the Iron Triangle in Willets Point, Queens, when their neighborhood was slated for redevelopment and the group was given funding to relocate and set up shop in Hunts Point, Bronx. Our project was to house fourty-five auto-related businesses: mechanics, tires, body work, and glass work, in one open-plan industrial space. These business owners were moving from individual haphazardly-constructed buildings on un-paved roads to a warehouse where each would have a work bay – secure and well-made, but open to their neighbors – like a shopping mall for auto repair businesses.

While the vast majority of the space would be utilitarian, this is still a place of business and needed its own identity for the customer-facing entry areas. Inspired by highway markings and signs, we developed a material pallet of galvanized metals and grays with bright yellow and orange accents. When all you can afford is paint, you go big – the yellow accents around the work areas are Ames Reflective Safety paint, which is coated in glass beads for high-reflectivity in ambient light. The restrooms were one of the few customer-facing spaces that we were able to re-finish, so we continued the brand colors with a custom color-blend of tile. The hand-washing sinks include foot pedals so that workers and customers alike can keep the sinks clean even if their hands are heavily soiled.