Roosevelt Coffeehouse

At Triad, we work to bring community aspirations to life. We value your vision and strive to build and care for the community you live in and leave for future generations.

  • Project Completion

    2018

The Call: A Proven Mission Ready to Reach a New Neighborhood

Roosevelt Coffee House is built to fight injustice. Every cup of coffee supports organizations working to end hunger, provide clean water, and combat human trafficking both locally and around the world. The first location in the Discovery District of downtown Columbus had proven the model. The brand was established. The mission was resonating. The leadership had gone through the process of building out that first space. Now they were ready to bring the mission to a second community by opening a location in the Gravity Project development in Franklinton.

But this was a different kind of challenge than the first buildout. The first location established the brand. The second location had to translate it. Franklinton is a different neighborhood, a different development, a different community. The space would be Roosevelt’s first impression on people who may have never heard of the mission. The design could not simply replicate the first location. It had to carry the Roosevelt identity into a new context and feel like it belonged there. For a not-for-profit whose identity is built on purpose, the space is how that purpose is experienced before a single word is spoken.

Choosing a Partner Who Understands That the Space Is the Brand

Roosevelt needed a partner who understood that designing a space for a social enterprise is not the same as a standard tenant improvement. The design had to do more than look good. It had to communicate a mission. It had to feel like Roosevelt. And it had to work for a not-for-profit that needed every dollar to serve the cause. The leadership chose Triad because the team had experience designing spaces where the atmosphere communicates the identity of the organization it houses.

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There is no other architecture firm The Roosevelt entity will ever work with moving ahead.

Kenny Sipes

Founder/Executive Director, Roosevelt Coffeehouse

The Decisions That Brought the Mission to Franklinton

Roosevelt’s leadership defined what they wanted the Franklinton community to feel when they walked through the door. The space needed to be welcoming, purpose-driven, and consistent with the brand that had already proven itself at the first location. But it also needed to be its own place, not a replica. The Gravity Project in Franklinton is a different setting than the Discovery District. The design had to carry the Roosevelt identity into that context in a way that felt natural and intentional.

The leadership made the decisions about how the mission should be communicated through the space: the materials, the atmosphere, the feeling of being there. Triad translated those decisions into a design that upholds the Roosevelt brand while creating a space that belongs in its new neighborhood. The finished environment communicates the fight against hunger, unclean water, and human trafficking not through signage alone but through the quality and intentionality of the space itself.

A Gathering Place Where Every Cup Fights Injustice

Today, Roosevelt Coffee House operates two locations, each carrying the same mission into different Columbus neighborhoods. The Franklinton location in the Gravity Project feels like Roosevelt from the moment someone walks through the door. The space communicates the purpose, welcomes the community, and creates the kind of atmosphere that draws people back. The leadership successfully translated their mission into a new neighborhood, guided by a partner who understood that the physical space is how a not-for-profit’s mission is experienced before anyone reads the menu. Every cup of coffee sold at the Franklinton location supports the fight against hunger, provides resources for clean water, and contributes to combating human trafficking. The space makes that mission visible.