the scale house

about this project

In its former incarnation, the Fernandes estate was the home of the distillery for the well-known Fernandes Rum, brewed and sold to the American military based on the island in the 1940s during World War II. Since the 1970’s, the estate has been intermittently transformed into industrial/commercial office space through adaptive reuse. As the Business Centre continued to grow in popularity, the need to provide better dining facilities for its patrons became increasingly apparent. In 2012, Trinidad-based architecture and interiors firm ACLA architecture, whose headquarters are also located in the Fernandes Business Centre, was awarded the contract to design a new food court building. The building, aptly named ‘The Scale House,’ opened to the public in May 2016, and is approximately 3500 SF with 4 food-vending bays, public toilets and both indoor and outdoor dining areas. It has started off successfully for the owners, vendors and customers alike, who now have a great alternative place to dine within the Centre, which the architects believe have raised the profile of the neighbourhood.