The Bloom Blow Bar is a new, one of a kind Blow Bar designed to serve the needs of the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. The interior is bright and cheerful, and designed to appeal to women of all ages.
Design: Mark English and Alessandro Miramare
Status: Built
What’s a Blowout? A Blowout is the act of shampooing, drying and styling the hair. Blow Bars are a modern version of the very popular beauty salon trend of the 50’s and 60’s where ladies visited regularly for a professional shampoo, blow-dry set and style. These civilized ladies knew that these salons not only offered a place to relax and be social, but more importantly get coiffed to movie star perfection. With today’s common longer hairstyles and more complicated shorter cuts combined with women’s increasingly busy schedules are among the many factors fueling the modern blowout salon movement. A professional, quick blowout can save time and money and patrons can look their best with a style that can last for days.
Mark English
Mark English and his associates at Mark English Architects create beautiful modern architecture, exploring the power of simple forms and spaces specific to place and client desire. Since its founding in 1992, Mark English Architects has designed numerous residential and entertainment spaces throughout California, Texas and Mexico. The firm has a special interest in building in the urban context, with half of its work occurring in San Francisco.
Mark English Architects offers a designer’s sense of artistry, supported by practical knowledge gained from years of direct hands-on building experience, having worked as a carpenter on his first realized home design at the age of 19. The team respectfully guides the client towards what could, and what should, happen in a space – so that they are both pleased and surprised by the results.
Mark’s undergraduate experience at Cal Poly included rigorous training in engineering and structural principles. Incorporating practical experience with structural systems and energy efficiency to the project early helps to streamline the design process.
Graduate studies at the Syracuse University campus in Florence, Italy complemented Mark’s interests in Greco-Roman and Mesoamerican archaeology and history.
As a licensed architect, Mark has supported the profession and his colleagues through participation in the AIA, the local AIA’s Small Business Committee, and by coaching his peers on new strategies for social media and marketing.
Mark English is the editor of a respected online magazine, and has created a forum for the local architectural community with “The Architects’ Take”.
