LOS TACOS No.1
New York, NY | 2012
Inside Chelsea Market & Times Square
This project is very special to me because it’s the first project where I played the role of the architect and the client. Boy was I in for a good ride. I had never designed a restaurant yet alone operate one.
The idea was not only to bring an authentic tasting taco to New York but to also bring an experience from Tijuana that many New Yorkers had never seen. In Mexico people design and build their taquerias with such pureness and resourceful manner. Coca-Cola initially founds these taquerias and in exchange they blast their white, red and black branding across their storefronts.
The taqueros act as the builders and scrap up as much building material as they can find. They clad it, paint it, add the Coca-Cola logo, and then they just start selling tacos. I respect that approach and the idea is to celebrate it throughout the designs of our stores in New York. Starting from the color scheme to the simplicity of the materials, the music and staff uniforms, everything has to be carefully picked to replicate the experience and educate the user.
