HAT HOUSE
Photos: Justin Allen
Community action group Westside Legends asked us to create a structure to distribute warm weather gear to kids waiting for the bus in the morning or getting off the bus in the afternoon at this corner parcel in the Westside neighborhood. The land was once home to a beloved restaurant and bar called the Riverside Cafe, which was demolished by the city a generation ago. The land is now unbuildable due to its proximity to the river.
The single existing built feature on the site is a guardrail along the sidewalk. We designed the Hat House to follow the four structural bays of the guardrail, tying into the guardrail’s posts to avoid the need for ground disruption. The length of the Hat House is divided into 16 cubbies in groupings of four within each structural bay. Every cubby has an interior hook for hanging free hats, and acrylic doors to protect the hats from the weather and to allow for access to the cubbies from both sides.
The warm pink color is a contrast with the cold grays of the guardrail and neighboring chain link fence along the river’s edge.
The Hat House is stocked each winter in a partnership between the Westside Legends and The Mastheads, with hats embroidered with lines of poetry from 2nd - 5th grade students within the Pittsfield Public Schools.
