Welcome Dispensary, a concept design for a Cannabis Lounge located in West Hollywood, Los Angeles.

For the Welcome Dispensary, JMDS created a space that generated engagement from the street without providing visual access to its interior. Security and code regulations necessitating no product or consumption of product be visible from the street inspired a thickened façade, where the entry sequence unfolds in stages.

Central to the design is a grid system that reaches out from the interior to the street to create depth at the façade. Planters that slip between the security bollards and the interior marry presentation with purpose. The grid not only provides fortification, but it also acts as a lattice structure for growth. Integrated custom lighting fixtures create soft illumination on the intermittent plantings and concrete texture, while shielding passers-by from glare. Entering the check-in vestibule from the street, visitors are Welcomed by staff at the check-in area. Security is present but concealed within an architectural nook beyond the public access entry. An automated glass door is opened by the check-in staff post check-in. All security elements are notched into the architectural treatment to minimize visibility.

The global design strategy focuses on scalability of concept to enable easy adaptation to various sites. Each module can be used to create an individual seating solution or an entire lounge full of seating. The Edible Activity Lounge is sunken 15” below grade, to increase a feeling of groundedness. Occupants lounge on the cushioned floor, while skylights mimic the recessed planting beds that run the perimeter of the space below. Curved surfaces cut through the grid to highlight key programmatic elements such as the Bar and Outdoor Smoking Lounge. The Outdoor Smoking Lounge is elevated 21” and boasts a large skylight oculus that lets daylight in and connects visitors with nature. Greenery is both hung from planters integrated into the grid modules and grounded in a deep circular planter that drops through the elevated lounge floor to the floor below in the Outdoor Smoking Lounge.

In the interior, the grid system is not only used to create furniture and architectural partitions, but also to house lighting / electrical, plumbing and HVAC related infrastructure. The custom lighting fixture is both flexible and practical, boasting 4 unique lighting scenes: Horizontal/Direct, Vertical/Direct, Horizontal/Indirect, Vertical/Indirect – each of the four unique lighting set-ups are installed within a single grid module. Lights are designed to take on different identities depending on their location, allowing a single fixture to facilitate many different programs, from task light, to decorative light in the interior, and baffled light at the façade.