Whole Foods Company Supermarket (Bread and Circus)

A yuppie grazer's nirvana, and certainly a shift from the standard boring box of most supermarkets, the building partakes of certain late 1990s environmental design fads, such as a large roof canopy with exposed trusses. However, in this case the canopy may recall nineteenth-century food markets and tent-covered stalls. It is exquisitely detailed for a supermarket; the lower orange- and cream-colored brick walls sport quoins, and the entrance recalls older main street buildings. The interior, well worth a visit, shows two systems in conflict: the exposed ducts, pipes, and guts of environmental brutalism, and then, at the aisle level, a series of marquees for the different departments, each of which is treated as a separate shop. Don't miss the uplifting quotes on the walls, even one by John La Farge! The fresh produce is the star of the show.