Sticky Bird Restaurant

Sticky Bird Restaurant was a pro-bono project which was designed to provide a place for men recovering from substance abuse and addictions to work while participating in the Red Barn recovery program. The Red Barn facility and Sticky Bird Restaurant are both located in Farmington, Utah. The design of the restaurant was a collaboration between the architect, contractor, the Haws Group, Red Barn and Wingers Restaurant. This is a unique, one-of-a-kind restaurant that tells the story of recovery from substance abuse while providing work for those men who are still on the path of recovery. The architectural aesthetic or design is a modern take on the old traditional red barns which were once common across this country. This 3,000 square foot restaurant provides a large industrial-like, vaulted dine-in area, an exterior open-air dining area under a decorative pergola, and a double-lane drive through to expedite service, also located under a decorative pergola. Large storefront windows resemble overhead doors and provides a relationship between the indoor dining and the outdoor dining areas. There is a long ribbon of windows located along the drive-through allowing customers to see the kitchen in action. Inside the restaurant there are monitors that tell the Red Barn story providing some information, education, and entertainment value. The large oversized windows provide an abundance of natural light as well as taking advantage of the surrounding mountain and valley views. The large windows and awnings above selected doors and windows provide a more contemporary or modern feel, while using traditional looking materials. The end result is a design which should prove to be timeless. The Stick Bird Restaurant is an iconic building and structure. The exterior walls are all constructed of 6” thick reinforced, tilt-up concrete walls, which were cast using form liners to resemble vertical clap siding with a heavy woodgrain. The walls are stained red, and the base has a cultured stone wainscot. Trim boards, soffits, fascia’s, window mullions, pergolas, and awnings are all a contrasting white. The tilt-up concrete acts as bearing walls supporting all the vertical loads (snow loads and dead loads). The tilt-up walls also act as shear walls and resist all the earthquake shear and overturning forces. The 6-inch-thick walls are 26 feet tall in some areas, with a height to thickness ratio of 52. Wall piers or jambs for these tall panels are only 24” wide by 6” thick. Although the building is relatively small, the roof and wall heights vary as does the massing of the different building sections or elements, adding to the interest and complexity of the building. The variations in the roof geometry and wall heights also caused the snow drifting and unbalanced snow loads to be more complex and challenging as well. A steel silo was added above the main entry which also provided a 20-foot-tall vaulted ceiling. In addition to being designed for large earthquake forces, the building was also designed to withstand a 150 mph wind with an open, unobstructed exposure.