Commons Oakland
Commune Bar is a vision of renowned artist, Binta Ayofemi. In an 3+ year ongoing process and performance, Binta and Anand worked closely to extend her art practice into an architectural scale. The resulting creation is a new event space that operates like a civic park with an ancillary café. It speaks to the power of a singular idea with strong authorship and unpassed opportunities for elevated craft.
The project blurred the relationship between client and architect, forming an art-partnership and Design Lead role that Anand currently holds.
The building, once a mid-century bank and then a musical instrument store, seemed to be hiding in plain sight the first few times Binta walked past it. It wasn’t until she peeked through the graffiti-covered windows that she saw the true potential the site held. At that point, Binta searched for an architect to fuse her love of performance art with their architectural designs. Anand’s ability to create authentic gathering places through the insertion of architectural forms, development of holistic systems, and the infusion of creative magic, was a natural fit for Commune Bar and the series of future works in the pipeline.
Performed while Design Director at Studio BBA, PKA Boor Bridges Architecture.
Project Recognition:
AIASF/Center for Architecture & Design - Outside In: Night Markets, Urban Portals, Reimagining How Architecture Meets the Street.
UNTITLED, Art. Podcast - Black Space, Freedom, Urban Forms, and Radical Imagination.
SF Chronicle Style, “What if a black artist re-imagined urban development with Oakland’s black community in mind?” Interview with Anand Sheth.
Fireclay Inspiration Gallery - Commune Bar Oakland.
The Team
GROUND (Binta Ayofemi), Performed while Design Director of Studio BBA, Built by CCI, GUILD and Roman Hunt, Engineered by ACIES and Tipping, Photographed and filmed by Hover Pictures (Ethan Goldwater & Linda Mai Green)