Nothing captures a neighbourhood’s interest quite like a derelict building rehabilitated for the community. This is what the award-winning chef Shawn Gawle set out to do when he hired Houston architects Schaum to transform a disused Houston Heights garage into a neighbourhood restaurant. Aptly called Camaraderie, it stands as a stellar example of adaptive reuse in the heart of this Texas city.

Taking possession of the wood-framed garage — formerly used as a metal workshop — Gawle imagined a ‘fine-casual’ local boîte with top service and elevated dishes. ‘[He] wanted to create the sense of warmth and connection that you might feel in a mountain retreat, but in the middle of cosmopolitan Houston,’ says Troy Schaum. ‘That tension between informality and refinement led us to look at refined Swiss chalets and Japanese ryokans. This was part of a kind of “urban cabin” logic that drove the design.’

Nearly all the wood and metal dismantled from the original building was maintained and reused. To minimise reliance on artificial lighting during the day, the team exposed the gabled roof with glazing and broke up ceiling between roof lights with suspended wood panels. They implemented coordinating wall panels around the 2,200sq ft dining room and installed modernist lighting, with plans to hang plants to soften the edges.

Two focal points bookend the space. The open kitchen is framed by clean timber millwork, with a large butcher-block prep counter in the foreground. Opposite is a powder-coated metal bar with illuminated shelving and painted trusses overhead. Between them are wood tables, chairs and stained-wood banquettes for 75.

Sculptural aluminium canopies mark the wood entrances and a new patio overhang extends the geometry of the roof towards the street, providing a 400sq ft covered space for outdoor dining. The scheme is pulled together with splashes of Yves Klein blue, a beacon for hungry neighbours.