The Brightwood Brewery Tap Room was part of a larger urban movement in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Driven by a demographic shift of young adults from the Halifax Peninsula, an urban and economic revitalization followed. At the centre of this development was Portland Street, where a string of start-up businesses took root. Among these seminal businesses was the Brightwood Brewery. For this reason, when designing the taproom, it felt important to create a space that was highly contextual and rooted in place. It also had to align with the young professional demographic that now lives there. The resulting Scandinavian-inspired interior aims to appeal to this demographic and match the energy of Brightwood’s contemporaries, such as New Scotland Yard-a combination cafe, barbershop, and record store. The interior design also includes a series of references to local landmarks, such as the MacKay Bridge and the Tufts Cove smokestacks. What started as a basement brewery on Dartmouth’s Brightwood Street is now a local institution and a landmark in its own right.

Architecture and Design : Peter Braithwaite Studio Ltd. (Peter Braithwaite, Jillian Ellis)

Construction : Peter Braithwaite Studio Ltd. (Peter Braithwaite, Ben Biggley, Tom Lutes)

Photographs : Alexa Cude