Captain Roy's

Project Details

Project Description

It all started as a single idea between a group of local businessmen... now Captain Roy's is a reality. The Union Park neighborhood in Des Moines has been described as a food desert; the area was very underutilized. ASK Studio provided a renovation design to convert an existing marina building at Birdland Park into a dining space with a bar, bus port, and accessible bathrooms. The Challenge: This was a shed that had few distinguishing features. There was a patina. Some caused by fire, some caused by flood and still more caused by an unfortunate choice of paint. The shed seemed to have nothing, except a position. This position is defined as: In a park Along a bike trail Beside a river Near a marina To just name a few, it was obvious that this was nirvana, a resurrection was required to make a position into a place. A food truck was to be the gravity to this position. It was orange, a fortunate choice of paint. The shed would protect the food truck, contain bathrooms and a bar. The site would be further defined by an asphalt floor, a dining room under strings of lights, a deck for thinking and drinking and a performance stage re-purposed from a pontoon boat. And bike racks. It was built simply, respecting a budget. Understanding that changing a position into a place is about embracing. Remodeling is an embrace. People came to the position. They came by auto, boat, bike and motor bike. They were fed from the food truck, served drinks from the shed and witnessed music emanating from a grounded water craft. The paint choices have been fortunate. It is a shed. It has been repurposed into a place.