Street Bean Espresso & Teen Shelter | Seattle, WA

 The photos above are the interior of the Street Bean Espresso space.

The shelter is for teens that live on the street and come from unhealthy family situations and their families are not looking for them. This philosophy made me rethink residential design. Designing for impermanent housing for a variety of residents. This made me think about how to make something feel like home, to people that have never had a good and healthy idea of what a home is in the first place. The most important ideas that I took away from this visit were the relationships of dorms and how this sort of commercial design can be applied to this space with a little love and understanding of how to give these teens and idea of belonging through the use of such aesthetics of design. The most important interaction between the teens that pass through and the space is being able to develop a personal relationship with it. Giving the teens a feeling of safety and belonging is the highest of importance when it comes to developing the design of the space. The most important ideas that I took from the visit to Street Bean espresso were the use of natural woods and colors and making it a very calming environment, that is welcoming and incorporates the community that surrounds it. I liked how the space displayed pieces of artwork from local artists that interchange every month. This gave the space personality and personality, which is important in both commercial and residential design.