Little Rey at Park Place by Stonelake Capital

Little Rey is a 7,000-sf mass timber restaurant adjacent to Stonelake Capital's Park Place in the heart of Houston's River Oaks District. Kirksey designed the fast-casual concept's core and shell, and Austin-based Michael Hsu Office of Architecture designed the interiors. 

Kirksey presented the mass timber components of the design to the client as a means of creating an amenity, prioritizing sustainability, and incorporating a nature connection for patrons. The added flow between indoor and outdoor space brings together the neighboring residential, office, and retail users – giving them an attractive, localized space for dining, meetings, and casual events.   

The mass timber design creates a social keystone to unite an existing green space to a midrise residential development to the north and a recently completed commercial office building to the south. The 7,000-sf mass timber structure engages two large trees while adequately maintaining an existing green space and providing a warm, inviting dining environment. The project retains transparency with glass doors and full-height glass along the north, east, and west facades to grant users views of the development. 

The expansive space boasts an alluring covered patio for al fresco dining and margarita sipping, intended to make guests feel at home and connected to neighboring trees and nature. The outdoor dining area is the closest to the trees and allows patrons to interact with nature. The canopy extension creates an outdoor covered patio, mimics the tree cover provided by the adjacent trees, and provides the formal transition between interior and exterior environments.