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StudioAC reunites with Edition Cannabis for the design of a second Dispensary

2021-03-28T08:35:00-04:00

StudioAC has reunited with contemporary cannabis dispensary Edition in the design of their second location on 764 St. Clair West in Toronto, Canada. Following the success of their first market, which was deemed “the world’s chicest cannabis shop” by Elle Décor, this second location takes great care in reproducing the hues, materials, and detailing used before. This allows for a continuity in design to emerge between the two shops, while allowing a uniqueness to emerge through the different interior articulation of the cement and the industrial fiberglass grates that build out Edition’s signature shelving and table centerpieces.

Fiberglass grate shelving. Credit: StudioAC

The more spacious layout of the second location also grants a greater deal of structural experimentation to occur at a larger scale. This allows for the fiberglass grates to act as both a bracing and support system simultaneously, according to the founders of StudioAC, Jennifer Kudlats & Andrew Hill. These grates se...

M-Rad designs elite cannabis industry members club in Downtown Los Angeles

2018-10-09T20:57:00-04:00

At a time when the cannabis industry is growing its commercial presence in Los Angeles, a new private members club for industry elites is setting up shop at 718 South Hill Street, in the heart of Downtown L.A.'s Jewelry District. Local architecture firm M-Rad was put in charge of redesigning the 85-foot-tall building, which will retain its historic characteristics and feature over 67,000 square feet of carefully curated space across seven distinct floors.

Green Street Agency, an L.A.-based creative agency that exclusively works within the cannabis industry, will be the flag tenant. Supporting tenants including Timeless Vapes, MOTA, and Vicente Sederberg will occupy three floors.

Rendering of the third floor, 718 South Hill. Courtesy of M-Rad.

Bird's eye view of the third floor. Courtesy of M-Rad.

The building will serve as a professional and community hub for entrepreneurs dedicated to “advancing the cannabis space”, giving members access to four levels of communal and private offi...

Electric Lettuce redefines the retail marijuana experience with a polished 1960s vibe

2018-08-07T17:37:00-04:00

As legalized marijuana begins to sweep the U.S, the rapidly expanding cannabis industry has ushered in a new era of high-design shops trading out tie-dye and Grateful Dead tees for smoking devices that look straight out of an Apple store and products wrapped in designs by Pentagram.

Electric Lettuce, a recreational dispensary with multiple locations across Oregon, delivers this modern stoner culture in spades. Deeply rooted in the 1960s—with a waiting lounge decorated in vintage cannabis paraphernalia where customers can listen to records spinning Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix—the store evokes a classic counterculture feel with a polished touch.

Photo by Lincoln Barbour.

The team behind the store—JHL Design working alongside branding agency OMFG Co.—have worked together before to deliver another one of Portland's fancy weed stores, Serra. Serra is a sophisticated, minimalist shop that one would reasonably walk into thinking it was a jewelry store. Electric Lettuce, on the other hand...

Marijuana Real Estate: This isn't just another greenhouse

2017-05-21T23:57:00-04:00

Innovative Industrial Properties, Kalyx and other similar groups are following the same strategy: buy buildings, retrofit them and lease them to commercial or medical marijuana growers. But it can often cost millions to turn a vacant warehouse into a facility suitable for cannabis cultivation.

David Gelles reports that the spread of legalization means the weed business is booming and with it, demand for commercial, industrial space. The latest post-industrial trend in states like California, Colorado, Massachusetts or even New York is a retrofitted industrial-scale "cultivation center."

photo by Ryan Mungia

Related readings include; a 2005 look at how Pot Clinics (were) Grow(ing) Like Weed in SF and last year's photo essay of L.A.'s "Green Mile." Or back in February, the Marketplace Morning Report on how these new REITs could help grow the medical-marijuana business.

photo by Ryan Mungia

Finally, last year over at the Weed thread, gruen noted "Big gold rush here to convert disused industrial facilities to indoor grow in advance of legislation."

Photographing every pot shop on L.A.'s "Green Mile"

2016-06-14T19:13:00-04:00

In particular, La Brea to Fairfax, which parallels Miracle Mile on Wilshire, was a hotbed of dispensaries with some areas having up to 3 on the same block, making it “the Green Mile.” [...] I began noticing how the dispensaries branded themselves through signage and typography, and what these choices might convey to their prospective clientele. Second, the fleeting nature of these businesses was such that the green paint hardly dried before a “For Lease” sign would appear

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