Atrium

UGI Utilities, Inc. serves more than 700,000 customers in 45 counties across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and one county in Maryland. Its recently completed headquarters, a 93,000-square-foot facility located on a 33-acre tract, is designed to house approximately 350 employees. The site includes significant acreage set-aside as greenspace and includes nearly a mile of walking trails. “Construction of our new headquarters building marks a significant milestone in the history of UGI Utilities,” said Robert F. Beard, UGI CEO. “The location and design of our new building will enhance and expand our employees’ efforts aimed at providing excellent service and the safe and reliable delivery of energy to our customers... More

Since 2006, the administrative centre of the federal authorities in Ittigen has housed agencies of the Swiss Confederation, namely the departments of environment, traffic, energy, and communications. In an open competition for a two-stage expansion by 900 workstations, the jury chose the proposal by Berrel Kräutler Architekten. The existing complex is being extended with logical consistency via a pair of elongated, compact buildings having the same alignment. Emerging is a vibrant campus with rhythmically staggered open areas and pathways. By 2020, the first building was finished, and it is now occupied.   In plan and section, the new seven-story building is clearly structured volumetrically. Configured around a central concrete... More

Finding your place at Yokohama stationJR Yokohama Tower is part of a reconstruction project and the landmark structure for the west exit area of Yokohama Station. It is also a lead project of "Excite Yokohama 22", the development project for the Yokohama Station area sanctioned by the city of Yokohama. With a total floor area of approximately 100,000 square meters, and a height of approximately 132 meters, it was designed as a complex facility consisting of commercial facilities, offices, and a movie theater. In 2014, we were selected through a nomination competition and were in charge of the environmental design of the exterior corridors, atrium, and rooftop garden. Yokohama Station is an "accessible" place for many people, for it is a hu... More

CO Architects teamed with GBBN Architects to deliver a state-of-the-art transdisciplinary educational facility to train future healthcare practitioners at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) in Highland Heights, KY.  The addition of the Health Innovation Center and renovation of the adjoining Founders Hall (built in 1974) creates a seamless complex for learning, collaboration, and practice.  The unified 210,000-square-foot facility houses classrooms, offices, conference rooms, laboratories, and a full simulation and clinical skills suite to train practitioners in addressing Kentucky’s specific health challenges, including diabetes, heart disease, opioid addiction, and cardio-pulmonary illnesses.  This transdisciplinary a... More

The graphic design firm ​Turnstyle​ and the branding firm ​Stoke​ commissioned Heliotrope to design their shared office headquarters in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. The property is located along a shoreline greenbelt, and features abundant views of the adjacent canal, as well as unobstructed solar access. The design cleverly navigates the land use code to maximize allowable floor area while incorporating a 30-foot-tall central atrium that stitches together three of the four floors and provides important visual connections throughout the building for its occupants. Large steel moment frames rise out of a monolithic concrete base with an integrated street front awning. The steel frames act as ribs for the exterior metal skin and are... More

Swiss architectural and design practice Evolution Design, in partnership with Russian architectural office T+T Architects, has developed striking headquarters for Russian bank Sberbank. Sberbank is the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe and is currently developing a new corporate district in Moscow. As part of this development, Sberbank commissioned Evolution Design to completely reconstruct a 30,000m² shell and core building into a new multifunctional head office. The internal atrium forms the basis of the architectural concept. Two 20m high green walls are reflected around the space by strategically placed mirror panels. Six cantilevered meeting rooms protrude into the atrium, adding a further sense of colour, life a... More

In the local context where house owners generally wants to fit in as many bedrooms as possible, this project went the opposite direction, so as to free up the rest of the house for communal spaces. The brief is deceptively simple but reflects a kinship that wants to spend as much time together as possible; the family wants only 2 bedrooms in the 3 storey residence. All other program spaces in the house are designed as shared spaces without enclosures. The key design gesture is a cantilevered ledge space that punctures through the middle of the house. At its side, the floor is pulled back to create a double volume atrium that links it spatially to the other storeys. This is the heart of the house. Expressed as a bridge that connects the 2... More