ReStore Designers’ Challenge – Colorado Springs by Heidi

I am currently part of a group of designers assigned to give a little face lift for The ReStore located in Colorado Springs.
The Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity ReStore, LLC has been established as a self-sustaining fund raising entity to benefit Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity. Their vision is to convert charitable donations of building materials into cash for use by Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity to construct simple, decent, affordable homes.
Two fabulous designers from Colorado Springs, Colleen Stiles and Sandie Trowbridge, decided that this would be a great opportunity to bring together design students from Pikes Peak Community College and the SOCO Design Community.

The objective of this project is to improve the overall function and aesthetic appeal of the ReStore entrance and foyer while infusing the connection and mission of Pikes Peak Habitat for Humanity

I have wanted to participate in Habitat for Humanity project for a long time, and was so exited when I received the initial e-mail from Colleen regarding this project.
This is such a great opportunity to collaborate with other local, talented designers, and designers to be. I love team work, and this really is team work at it’s best; designers of various experience levels and design backgrounds collaborating for a great cause.

We are divided into 4 groups

1. Promoting The Habitat Story and mission ,includes interior signage including directional signage and a map of the store
2. Exterior front entry and product pick up area
3. Bathrooms including update tile, counters, fixtures and sink
4. Design and space planning from Front Entry Area extending to shelving.

I am leading the group # 4 along with April Fullman from Design materials.

We will be designing and space planning Front Entry Area, including front desk (needs to be ADA accessible), shelving and storage for shopping carts.

Even though there are four projects, everyone will still work collaboratively and my
team will be especially working very closely with Team #1 as there are some overlapping on the areas we are both designing.

Our entire budget (for all groups) is $1,000 which means that we will have to be extra creative and try to use ReStore materials as much as possible.

Here are some pictures of what the ReStore Front Area currently looks like:

Our initial meeting as a group was January 11 to review the scope and details of the project. In this kick-off meeting we also met the ReStore manager John Veteto and Nikki Richardsson from Habitat for Humanity who both gave us a brief overview of the ReStore. After that the students and designers met to discuss the action plan.

We met again on January 25th to go over the concept ideas that each team had come up for their specific area. It was so wonderful to see all the ideas that everyone had come up with, present mine, and then see the layout for a new space coming together.

Our presentation is next week, after which I will post some concept images.

I will, however post a picture of a concept for front desk and a pendant fixture I have designed for the front entry area. They are made utilizing reclaimed wood found from ReStore .