Opening up a restaurant in San Jose using an alternative to bi fold doors.

When ACI General Contractors, in San Raphael, and Allied Architecture, in San Francisco, decided to use Panoramic Doors in the Oryza restaurant project at the Westfieild Valley Fair Mall it was an easy sell to the owners because the cost was less than Nanawall's bi fold door system.

Another factor considered was that Panoramic Doors could easily build the panels above Nanawall's nine foot, six inch height restriction. Because the Panoramic Door system runs on the bottom track, the headers didn't need to be over engineered. This saved the owners more money on construction costs.

Allied Architecture chose Solarban 60 low "E" glass, by PPG, for the four huge folding patio doors. The "U" value is .30 and it gives better insulating value than Panoramic Door's standard Sungate 500 glass which has a .35 "U" value.

Because the Panoramic Door system is hingeless, the staff at Oryza can slide the panels around in different configurations to block direct sunlight or the breeze without having that accordion look or huge Z they would have gotten with partially open hinged bi-folds.

Allied Architecture came up with a great idea to use the Panoramic Door system as a pocket door. But not in the traditional sense of pocket doors. Traditional pocket doors slide parallel to each other and back into the wall. Because space was limited near the mall entrance Panoramic Doors made the panels a narrow 28" so all four panels fold into the small pocket you see in the bottom photo.

Everybody at ACI General Contractors, along with Allied Architecture, and USA AllGlass did a great job and the restaurant opened on January 12, 2012. John, the restaurant Manager, and his well trained staff turn out some amazing food like their buttermilk fried chicken. Stop in and enjoy some. The restaurant is in the Westfield Valley Fair Mall  located near Godiva Chocolate and Parking structure A on level 1 across from Valet Parking.

Our next project with ACI General Contractors is the new second location of Nopalito on 9th Ave. near Lincoln Way in San Francisco. The restaurant is scheduled to open March 2012. In the meantime check out Nopalito's first location near the panhandle.