Title: Optimist Hall
Location of Proejct: Charlotte, North Carolina
Project Completion Date: July 2019
Firm Name: Perkins&Will

Short Description: Optimist Hall is all about moving Charlotte’s food, trade, and culture forward. With a name that recalls the beginnings of the Industrial South, and a space dedicated to innovation,
sustainability, experimentation, and urban renewal.

The industrial-era cotton mill had many lives as a textile mill and manufacturer before its latest chapter as a warehouse. Like the textile identity of its business, the building's basic structure endured. We had to discover the structure, though, because it was hidden beneath a century's worth of ad hoc alterations. Our approach became editorial, peeling back layers to reveal the mill's beautiful, simple wood structure.

Architect's Statement: Originally built as Highland Gingham Mill in 1890, when Charlotte was the bedrock of the Industrial South, Optimist Hall sits at a key intersection in a rapidly transforming area.
Located in the Optimist Park neighborhood, between Uptown Charlotte and North Davidson, the redevelopment transformed a turn-of-the-century textile mill into a food hall complemented by restaurants, retail, and creative office space. The newly christened Optimist Hall includes restored hardwood floors, soaring, naturally-lit 14+ foot ceilings, as well as board and beam interiors with a true industrial character that speaks to the history of the project. New entries and pavilions weave through the site, creating a welcoming new hub for a rapidly transforming urban neighborhood.

Hidden behind walls of later additions, the state in which we found the mill lacked original character and charm. Much of the design challenge was deceptively subtractive and our solution was to rediscover the original hidden structure and restore the lost high windows, clerestories, and skylights to recapture the natural light-filled experience. To qualify for historic preservation funds, each step of the process was scrutinized by federal and state historic review boards. On the east side of the project, most later additions to the mill were selectively removed, revealing original façades in the courtyard. To the west, solid warehouse additions were reduced to steel structures to provide outdoor terraces. At the southwest corner, another solid brick box was transformed into creative office space with selective cuts creating new windows and an all-glass entry at the corner.

In the recovered courtyard, the textile history survives in the gestural folding of the pavilion canopies and the lights threaded across the sky. Providing an entry focal point and new restaurant space, the pavilion draws visitors to the food court and elevated courtyard from the entry drive below.