Raleigh News - Wendy's New Bern

Wendy's announcement in New Bern.

http://raleighpublicrecord.org/news/2015/04/13/development-beat-18/

D. Eugene Thompson, AIA
President + Founder
Ionic DeZign Studios, Inc.
www.ionicdezigns.com

Wicked Taco

Finally wrapped up the design for a new restaurant in Raleigh NC. We anticipated being provided much of the conceptual design by another designer but fortunately for TEAM IONIC we were afforded the opportunity to develop much of the designs both inside and out. The project consisted of renovating an existing vacate Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant of about 3000 square feet. It was a complete gut of the front interior dining area as well as laying out and reutilizing much of the same kitchen plan to minimize costs.

Once we developed the interior seating plan, it was decided that more interior seating would be necessary. With restrictions from easement requirements from overhead power lines and existing drive thru lanes, IONIC was able to incorporate a ten foot addition on the front which allowed to create a new branding image and entry.

The front facade is clad in several rustic type materials including reclaimed tobacco farm barn wood, galvanized coorigated metal and some ledger stone around a few accent columns. The new added dining area opens up to the outside with operating overhead doors allowing extended outdoor dining and fresh air. Both the stone and the metal come down into the interiors giving that inside/outside feeling.

The ceiling with the existing portion of the dining was exposed and painted wood trusses which allowed the round duct work to be an accent weaving through the webs. Lighting of similar industrial flair highlight the various features inside including punctuations of metal and barn wood as an interior finish. Logos and graphics will aborn much of the interior walls as BIG RIVER will decide final placement for much of this work.

We were excited about this new chain of restaurants that will eventually be sprinkled across the east near most of the college university markets. This one just may be the first of many as we are currently under plan review at the city of Raleigh and have sent the project out for bidding by general contractors specializing in restaurant work and fast pace construction methods.

This should be a WICKED one guys. Be sure to check back regularly as we hope to be under construction by the middle of February and complete a few short weeks later.

Everything is a team effort

Lead Designers: Dahlia White and Abby Hoffman

Ionic DeZign Studios

"Where Art and Architectue Come Together."

D. Eugene Thompson

www.ionicdezigns.com

IONIC DEZIGN STUDIOS: 2012 Top Ten Projects

We have been really blessed this year with lots of work when we know so many others have struggled to make ends meet.  First of all lets us thank our clients for supporting us here at IONIC and allowing us to do what we enjoy doing so much: DESIGNING!

Here are a few of our 2012 projects that we feel particularly proud of.  Some are completed while others are under construction and are listed in no particular order.  We would love to hear from you as to your favorite and why.

1. We start off with a Wendy's Ultra-Modern design located in Chesapeake Virginia. This design is a popular one with the company as it certainly provides a bit of flair to the old fashioned look previously. As a renovation project, there was much coordination required to accomplish the final look. Construction by Independence Construction.

2. We don't often do residential work but this one takes the cake. The Goshen Residence built originally in the late 1700s on the Ware River in Gloucester Virginia undergos significant renovation to save the structure and return it to its glory of the original era.  Many modern features have been added to insure that it maintains usefulness as a home but also that much care is taken to insure the integrity of the history.  Working with DHR, IONIC; the contractor DOVETAIL CONSTRUCTION and other consultants strive to rebuild this home now listed on the historic register.

3. Our first LEED Retail project Four Square Retail has found a lot of favor with the local community. We have heard that the city of Norfolk Virginia is quite proud to the the first in the area. It doesn't hurt to be fully occupied and generating revenue as well. IONIC is currently working on the paperwork for the official accreditation of the facility for a LEED Certified. We hope to have everything finalized by summer of 2013. Construction by Independence Construction.

4. Star Express Convenience Store located in New Kent County Virginia is currently under construction. The second store for this small growing corporation but first with a statement by IONIC. It is expected to be completed near the end of March 2013 and open to the public shortly there after. We feel that this store will lead to many more locations as growth and prosperity continues. Construction by Independence Construction.

5. Part of the economic development authority in Virginia Beach Virginia, Russo Law Office became possible due to their previous office taken over due to eminent domain. The new brick, glass and metal panel structure sits right near Town Center and offers multiple tenants as well as the law office. In December 2012, this project received the honor award from the City of Virginia Beach Planning Commission. Construction by JDandW.

6. The Wendy's Urban Design makes our list as well. We did several locations but our first was in Raleigh North Carolina.  We are fortunate to have the confidence of the corporate office to continue with their work into 2013 all over North Carolina as well as working with some franchise owners too. Construction by Quality Builders.

7. Towncenter Crossing became our second LEED Retail project this year located right in the middle of Virginia Beach Virginia re-developed from the old Fuddruckers Building. These photos were taken as we finalized some of the exterior lighting modifications. USAA and Bruegger's Bagels will be wrapping up their construction soon and we will be back out there to take some final shots. It is nice to work right across the street from your project! Construction by Independence Construction.

8. Under construction in South hill Virginia right off of US 85 is the new Five Guys. This free standing building took quite some time to get all the players in tune with one another but finally is has kicked into gear. Construction began late November with site work and the completion expects to be near April 2013.  Construction by Kenbridge Construction. We look forward to a burger or two.

9. This project has been a bit of a roller coaster this past year. Navy Federal Credit Union had some changes to the program that caused delay to construction in Chesapeake Virginia. Initially we designed a 9,000 sq ft, then added an additional 3,000 sq ft and now we are back to just 3500 square feet. we are hoping all is set to complete the final documents (again) by March 2013 and finish construction near the end of next year.

10. Rounding out the top ten is the Haywood Office Project located in Gloucester Virginia. This is the first of 3 buildings for the complex with construction current underway for the site.  Some final modifications are being made to allow the owner to get into the structure immediately while leasing continues for the office portion. We expect completion some time late summer of 2013. Construction by G.L. Wilson.

Again we want to thank all of those that supported us this year and wish many great successes in 2013. Let us know what you like!

www.ionicdezigns.com

Expedited Review and Murphy's Law!

Some of you in the bigger cities may be familiar with this process.  This week was my first experience and it took place in Raleigh North Carolina. This process is where you get with the city and select a date that you and all your engineers along with every city staff member can get in a single room all at one time. Once you are there with a pile of the drawings, you give a brief overview of the project and it's scope and then ..... away it goes.  Every member of the city staff grabs their copy of the drawings and begins diving into the details that pertain to them.

I point of this process is to hopefully by the end of the day/afternoon, you will walk away with an approved set of construction documents and a construction permit. The key to this is making sure you are pretty good at having a set of documents that do not have a glitch anywhere in them.  A few minor items are not too bad. The city officials ask questions in regards to their portion of the review and if a few notes need to be added, that architect or engineer makes the corrections/notations in red on the documents (ALL the documents) and the city official stamps them approved.

Every member of the design staff and stamps the drawings has to be present in the room at the beginning or else the process will not proceed. Unfortunately we did not have our mechanical and plumbing engineer at the onset of the meeting. Fortunately, they did not notice. He was an hour and a half late......but we snuck through saying he was on his way.  I got a little bit of grace since I was from out of town.....and everyone of the engineers were as well.

We had performed our standard code compliance review for the project which was incorporated in the documents...unfortunately that isn't what they wanted.  They had a 16 page review sheet that had to be filled out. We had it filled out and right there....just not ON the drawings sheets.  A show stopper! So, we took the sixteen 8.5x11 sheets and one of the our 24x36 code compliance sheets and ran down stairs to a print shop next door. We explained that we needed the sheets reduced and placed on one our large sheet. The print shop said he would have to scan them in and then paste them digitally into the large sheet.....but he didn't do that...his boss did.....and he wasn't in the office yet...AHHHHH! Ok...let's think old school. Ok, make a full size copy of my large sheet..DONE. Ok, make copies of these sixteen sheets reduced by...let's guess 75%...DONE. Ok....give me a GLUE STICK.....what? Yes...A glue stick....like in kindergarten! I took them and stuck them onto the large sheet and then had the guy run the copies I needed.......DONE! That is what I can OLD SCHOOL!

Other than that little drama we were good and received our approvals. The engineer finally got there, signed his work and we were successful. Such a relief!

I really want to thank the staff at the city of Raleigh for working with us and allowing us a little bit of grace for us "newbies".....Thank you so much.

Oh, I could also share with you that the day before the print shop down in Raleigh had received all of our files and was supposed to print them for us and deliver them to the civil engineers office. That didn't happen...well sort of. They printed maybe half of them...no architectural! What! delivered at 5:20 PM. Too late to fix.....so we ran around to find a FEDEX/KINKO's to have them printed before they closed at 9PM. Called one shop, tried to have our office email the files......Murphy's law struck....our internet was done....NO! Finally up, we drove to the FEDEX and it was the wrong one.....no worries this one was open until 11PM. They received the files and began printing 330 copies. Yes.....you read right. They were not used to this kind of quantity of large format printing. They finished up at 11:10, we took the drawings back to the hotel and spread them across the lobby area sorting all the sheets and sets and getting them ready for the next morning. We finished at 1 AM in the morning...but we were ready.

I share all of these things so that you know Murphy's Law is alive and well. And as frustration and worries set, one could cancel, postpone, delay....give up.....that wasn't at option of us. No matter how many of the struggles (several others not shared) we sought out a solution.  A solution to the problems...each problem...that arose.  That's what we do at IONIC.  We are problem solvers. From the beginning of a project to the end...let us find a solution to your architecture puzzle.

That's my crazy story for this week my friends....enjoy yours! NOW LET'S BUILD A BUILDING!