Pop Up Grocer
Curated Grocery
Flagship Store
New York City
2023
Don't let the name fool you, this grocery flagship is here to stay. Known for highly curated "better-for-you products," Pop Up Grocer's first permanent location is situated in NYC's West Village.
Working with the eye-catching aesthetic created by owner Emily Schildt and creative director Jen Levy, we developed a visual language that maintains the pop of its temporary kin, while introducing an elevated palette designed to last. Like much of the retail work we create, the architecture entices visitors to enter and circulate, but ultimately lets the product do the talking.
Okonomi Thailand
Japanese Cafe
Bangkok, Thailand
2021
Okonomi is a cozy Japanese concept restaurant/café nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood in Bangkok. The menu, curated with Brooklyn restaurant owner and chef Yuji Haraguchi, features dreamy dishes that evoke the simplicity of Japanese home cooking.
The idea was straightforward—to create an unembellished design that complemented the dishes, known for striking a balance between quality ingredients and simplicity. Highlighting Japanese cypress, regional slate and a muted green wash on the exterior, we converted this former massage parlor into a home for this beloved local eatery.
Daily Harvest
Tasting Room
Chicago, Illinois
2022
Daily Harvest, the online food-delivery brand known for promoting healthy farming and eating, asked Porto Architecture to create a tasting room in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. In this temporary space, the architecture quite literally combines with the landscape. The simple volume highlights the key moments of the Daily Harvest story, with plantings that weave in, out and through to guide people from beginning to delicious end.
Beer Belly
Beer Hall
Bangkok, Thailand
2022
With a name like Beer Belly, visitors know what they're getting into from the start! But instead of leaning too far into the beer hall aesthetic, we brightened things up with local tile work, custom neon artistry and graphics. Chon gâew!
Beam Bar
Bar / Music Venue
Bangkok, Thailand
2021
The design for Beam Bar is all about color. The first floor is home to a collection of volumes carved from wood to create seating areas and a DJ stage. These volumes are washed with a gradient of color from the window treatment, giving the space a surreal, kaleidoscopic glow. Moving upstairs, the colors integrate into the architecture. Here, we created a custom palette of tinted concretes that were mixed together to form the bar and seating.
Soi School
Primary School
Bangkok, Thailand
2023
The story of Soi School is one of humble beginnings. Originally developed as a single moving truck repurposed to be a pop-up classroom, the aspiration of Soi School was to bring high-quality primary school programming to under-serviced neighborhoods of Bangkok. The dual purpose of the mobile classroom was to reach more children in a broader area and promote a play-based education that utilizes the outdoors. Since its inception in 2020, Soi School has grown to a fleet of 15 electric pop-up trucks with a central building that houses classrooms, workshops and a cafe built around an internal courtyard. The classrooms open up directly to the courtyard to allow for seamless indoor/outdoor programming. Designed to minimize energy needs, the sawtooth roof brings natural light into all active rooms while blocking the direct impact of the strong tropical sun. The material palette highlights locally-sourced woods, tiles and brickwork. Although the energy needs of the building are low, the Phase 2 plans for Soi School are to establish solar panels above the carpark to charge the trucks and power the building as to make it completely self-contained.