From the architect. A portion of the ground floor in an industrial building was renovated into a co-working space that consisted of small office rooms, individuals’ dedicated desks, and a series of shared spaces including a meeting room, a drink bar, and lounges. As the given space had a high ceiling, we partially made it into two stories while considering the reach of natural light to the deep area. The floating lounge or “cloud seats” was one of unique design features that made the best use of the ceiling height and created a dynamic scene in the space.
The afternoon sun light softly comes into the lounge through a lace curtain, creating a relaxing environment.
We purposefully used some outdoor construction materials for interior space. For example, lightweight concrete blocks were laid to the full ceiling height with patterns in order to create feature walls at important shared spaces; red bricks were paved for both exterior and interior spaces blurring the boundary and dealing with the level difference in between; and concrete columns standing in the middle of the site were shaved off and their original rough surfaces were exposed. These design decisions were certainly made to create a kind of taste, but it also reflected our design philosophy to resist the transient reality of commodified office environment. We used outdoor construction materials and their tectonic expression, and tried to create a stable identity to this project and anchor it to this specific location.
The space provided various types of working environment for the members to choose from: such as, an enclosed room, a duplex, with a private garden, and a desk at an open floor.
The “cloud seats” is a relaxing lounge next to the drink bar. It was formed by steel members and covered by OSB boards, and raised to the upper floor level by a number of supporting steel columns. Through the design process, we tried to make this object visually detached from the space and float in the air. Firstly, we gave a unique form to the object, a zigzag passage with six finger-like seats attached irregularly. Its form refused to merge into the dominant interior perspective framed by the modernism factory building. Secondly, the edges of OSB boards were cut in sharp angle and joined perfectly without showing material thickness. The tectonic reality and construction process were purposefully hid, which visually detached the object from the site context. Thirdly, the columns were irregularly placed and painted in four different colors. They were dissociated from each other, and thus the whole object visually lost structural coherence. It was meant to reinforce the idea of floating. Fourthly, The bottom of the floating object was finished by mirror-effect material. Its reflection hid the structural reality and the floating object was dissolved in the air. All these designs made the “cloud seats” float in the air and detached from the working section, and created a relaxing environment.
The use of such design elements as water, greenery, concrete, and red brick brought an outdoor walking experience into the interior working environment.
From the architect. It is a small house project. There are Japanese homes around the site with a certain density and there is a row of cherry blossoms on the side of the site. The client wanted to live while watching the cherry blossoms.But it isn’t able to avoid a private problem to grant the request in this land near a road.So we proposed a simple answer.I made them reverse the construction of the floor.
The stairs in this housing are characteristic. A void like a crevasse is separating inside and outside gently. The stairs where soft light on the north side falls play abstract beauty.
The construction of the 2nd floor is simple. Each several offices which line up parallel to cherry blossoms. We answered a request of the client who would like to live while always feeling a cherry blossoms.The simple composition and the beautiful figure are derived consequently, and construction has been completed.
We thought about a house like living with cherry blossoms while paying attention to the surrounding houses.
The roof, material, proportion are designed to follow the surrounding context and participate in the city-scape.On the other hand, symmetrical façades are slightly away from the surrounding context. A design that combines autonomy and heteronomous awakens the surrounding poetic level.
From the architect. As you approach the Dickinson Public Safety Center from the south, a sweeping earthen-toned wall emerges from the gentle rolling hillside. The building is nestled in a wide-open landscape on the edge of a growing community. As daylight fades, the dark façade gives way to two luminous boxes, a symbol of the two departments housed within that serve to protect the citizens of Dickinson, North Dakota.
The concept for the Dickinson Public Safety Center was inspired by both the local Native American history and Dickinson’s nickname, ‘The Western Edge’. A conceptual ‘edge’ element evolved into a large, curved wall – a nod to the Mandan ‘on a slant’ villages that had been thoughtfully protected from nearby water by tall, rounded fences. The topography of the site and the undulating curves of the stream signified this connection, and the curve became central to the building’s design.
In contrast to the opacity of the arced wall, glassy orthogonal elements convey the importance of the interior programmatic functions. The transparent apparatus bays penetrate through the corten-clad surface, allowing fire operations to be highly visible and showcased to onlookers. Further to the east, the wall opens up to reveal the glazed lobby area and create a dynamic public entry. The lobby is pulled back from the curved wall, inviting visitors to walk through the partition and be welcomed into the facility’s public component. At the entry to the west and the courtyard, sections of the curved wall are turned perpendicular to create dramatic openings for staff using secure portions of the facility.
This combined fire and police facility includes 42,501 SF of individual entity and shared-use space, including space available for public use. Dickinson Public Safety Center’s construction is unique in that it thoughtfully combines traditional construction with a pre-engineered metal building. The materials used for the building were chosen in order to accomplish the city’s desire for an ‘iconic’ building that fit the surrounding landscape and enhanced the local context. The weathered steel exterior was chosen for its gritty, yet beautiful, patina as it ages through the years. This public safety facility was designed to be both beautiful and efficient, and to serve the city of Dickinson far into the future.
Los Angeles – California – USA (by CEBImagery)
Sig Nordal 