Accedi
Utenti registrati
The project takes inspiration from the visual language of warehouses and industrial buildings located in the surrounding area. We wanted to deliver a complete experience and a different vision for what a building for white-collar office work could be. We wanted something a little rough around the edges. We achieved the roughness from a layering of scale and materials, from landscape to facades to interiors.
Located on the eastern periphery, the project sits on the outer edge of the central business district, a sprawling low-density neighborhood of manufacturing buildings and warehouses. It’s precarious position within the city means that the building mediates between the low rural urban sprawl of the city's exurbs and it's more dense urban city fabric. It's a medium-scale building for a medium-scaled neighborhood.
Each building has two primary architectural conditions that reinforce both the internal program and external activity, and are in contrast to one another. The upper section of each building has large open office spaces clad in a rational grid of precast concrete panels punctuated by outdoor decks. At the ground floor the buildings have a deep colonnade of forest-like canted columns that emerge from the landscape to create a covered public space. With a ceiling clad in wood this space connects a restaurant, lounge, and building lobbies with the surrounding courtyard. The custom precast concrete facade was developed in close collaboration with the manufacturer. The facade was rationalized and panelized, then coordinated with precasting tolerances and installation constraints. Taking advantage of the depth required in the precasting process was critical to achieve the team’s design intent for the facade to create distinct shadows and building-scale textures. Other elements include large-scale custom steel light fixtures at each entrance, created by local lighting studio Warbach to mimic the canted concrete columns, roof decks, an exterior stair, and a mural by Emily Eisenhart. This building is focused on long-term durability and future-proofing usability, decisions which extended to site and landscape design, to building size and shape, to façade design, and to material and furniture selections.
Eastbound demonstrates a project that takes the premise of the typical American speculative office building into an interesting and expressive space to work. The project is focused on long-term durability and future-proofing usability, decisions which extended to site and landscape design, to building size and shape, to façade design, and to material and furniture selections.
West of West is an architecture and research practice that engages the worlds of art, culture, and technology to shape contemporary life and the built environment at all scales. The studio collaborates with pioneering people and organizations to develop environmentally and socially responsive buildings and communities. Their endeavors interweave innovation and craft and include new models of housing, retail environments, creative workplaces, and experimental urban infill structures. This work draws from the unique social, cultural, economic, and environmental context of each project to create meaningful places for people to live, work, and play. West of West combines innovation and craft to create new models of housing, retail environments, creative workplaces, and experimental urban infill structures.
