San Francisco-based Sparc provides a specialized service with a controversial reputation. Together with Sand Studio, the company sought to redefine public perception of the marijuana industry.
The Sparc patient resource centre is a non-profit collective that provides high-quality, lab-tested, affordable cannabis and subsidized health services to its members, many of whom are chronic and terminally ill patients. The collective of marijuana cultivators aims to use its socially conscious philosophy to re-paint the image of marijuana and its users. Constructed entirely on site, the Sparc centre is carefully crafted as an alternative to the misused or misunderstood marijuana dispensaries.
As the building is located in a transitional part of town, Sand Studio used the centre to elevate the area and positively contribute to a community image. The first move was to create a warm and welcoming entrance. The façade is illuminated and features etched glass and partially transparent blue-glass panes in a sculptural, recycled-steel frame. The result carries natural light through the interior space. Much of the existing building was retained, in keeping with Sparc’s environmental concerns, and salvaged timber on the façade indicates the warm atmosphere within.
The centre, inspired by antique apothecaries and herbal shops, displays shelves of medicines and walls of drawers; a rolling ladder helps customers locate products in the medicine ‘library’. Products are kept in individual dovetail-oak bins and buds are stored in custom-glass dishes. Timber is used for the display cabinets, which are supported by steel to look as if they are floating above the polished concrete floor. Customers are reminded that they are in a specialized environment – like that of a Japanese tea room, where the focus is on the experience of the tea – and are encouraged to linger and use their medication in restful bench areas...
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