Narrative
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Date: June 23, 2022
CC: Hyannis Main Street Waterfront Historic District Commission
From: Aline Architecture
Office Address: 100 Route 6A, Orleans, MA
Email: matt@alinearch.com
RE: 680 Main Street, Brazilian Grill, Map 308 Parcel 47
The property is located at the terminal end of Main Street Hyannis and the Commission’s
district. As a result, the generally continuous street wall of Main Street wanes significantly once
you pass Sea Street, following the direction of traffic. The structure on the property containing
both the Brazilian Grill and Butchery is setback significantly from the sidewalk contrary to the
built character of the street, recent contemporary glass addition notwithstanding. Aside from
adding some needed interior space to the reception area, the proposal reimagines the
outdoor space between the street and the existing building and engages Main Street with low
stone walls and roofs and the manner of a street wall.
There are notably three material palettes for review which land are varyingly more historic or
more contemporary. The materials consistent throughout are typical local historically common
materials: red brick, western red cedar, New England ledge stone, or the glass. The precast
concrete and galvanized aluminum are also common local materials, albeit not necessarily
used as they are shown here. The new glass wall will be detailed to match the existing glass
box, and the doors will also be glass to match.
We are proposing three signs of freestanding lettering: two with “Brazilian Grill” in cutout
lettering adjacent to the restaurants logo, also cutout; and a third sign of cutout lettering,
“Butchery”. The area of the signs in total is 40 sq. ft. Individually, left to right on the south
elevation, the areas are 16 sq. ft. and 19 sq. ft. for the Grill, and 5 sq. ft. for the butchery. Those
numbers were calculated by using a generous bounding rectangle around the letters and
logo. The owner would also like to seek approval to relocate the existing freestanding sign to
the parking lot behind the rear of the building to help customers find the parking. The sign will
be located so it is not significantly visible from the street.
The lighting strategy for the new spaces is to make use of a higher number of lower brightness
(smaller) fixtures rather than a larger, brighter fixtures. A soft diffuse glow will illuminate the new
spaces, and critical elements for safety such as stairs and walking paths will have carefully
directed brighter lighting where necessary. The smaller fixtures also contribute significantly less
to light pollution. They can be precisely controlled and smaller fixtures produce softer light that
travels a shorter distance before the effect becomes negligible. Specifications have been
included for each type of fixture.