Husband and wife team Pedro and Sarah Resendiz were ready to trade in their popular food truck Tamarindo—which they had been driving around Orange County, California, since 2013—for a brick-and-mortar version of the business in San Clemente. They didn’t want to lose the casual, sunlit vibe of roadside dining in the transition, however, so reproduction of that outdoor experience and light were key factors in their brief when the couple hired Los Angeles–based Stayner Architects to transform a dilapidated 1940s building into a full-service restaurant for their well-regarded Mexican cuisine.
Led by principal Christian Stayner, the firm managed all aspects of the project: the architecture, the business plan, entitlements and approvals, construction, interiors, graphics—and lighting design. After gutting and stabilizing the single-story wood and masonry structure to comply with seismic codes, the architects focused on introducing daylight into the dining room. They installed full-height glazing on the building’s east-facing front facade, opening the interior to a patio, then inserted six skylights into the roof to carry sunlight into the space. In the rear, western light from the kitchen filters through a ribbed-glass lattice screen.
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