Atrium

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

Constrained by the long narrow site sandwiched between neighbouring properties, the design distills into the shifts of 3 volumes to shape light entering the spaces of this dwelling.   Deprived of any side elevations to allow openings, the 3 cubes slides between the party walls to allow daylight into the middle of the house. Here, a double volume atrium space ensures light reaches the lower parts of the house from the skylights above. Staircases are located beneath the skylights on both sides of the atrium while a feature bookshelf on level 2 fronts one face of the atrium. In addition to shifting between the walls, the cubes also slide amongst themselves along the front-back axis, introducing a series of outdoor patios that shift both... More

The house was designed on the southern slopes of the Upland near Krakow. This area is included in the area of ​​the Landscape Park. The context of charming and natural landscape values ​​has become the background for the project. The plot has a trapezoidal shape and a topography of very different heights. Access to the plot is located on the west side. The existing location conditions and investor's requirements influenced the design process and the functional and spatial composition of the house. Access to the house is provided by a closed yard with a maneuvering square, which is also a buffer between the road and the house. From this space you can directly get to the underground part of the building and through the field stairs... More

Photo Credits: ©Stirling Elmendorf The PolyCuboid is the new headquarter building for TIA, a company that provides insurance services. The volume is composed by an interlace of three major cuboid shapes creating intersections, voids, and space units. The cuboids superposition across each other also allows a richer space syntax including interior and exterior terraces, an atrium, several seating spaces, and a clear yet richer functional distribution of spaces and connections. Bridges also connects the cuboids from inside allowing a dynamic overview of the different spaces. The first floor was shaped by the limits of the site and a ø700mm water pipe that is crossing the site underground limiting foundation space to half the lan... More

The city of Likasi, South-Eastern city of the D.R. Congo, is known to have been established in 1917 mainly for the use of its railway infrastructures to connect the industrial areas around the city. The existing station building, which was built in 1954, and which essentially served only the eastern part of the city (since the eastern part of the city was attached to the outskirts of the existing city at that time), was to be rebuilt in 20 years after its construction. The new conceptual project takes into consideration the actual situation within the city, with two main entrances on both sides of the city and responding to the need for an increasing passenger traffic demand, providing a modern level of passenger service.   The stati... More

The new court of “A Parda”, promoted by the board of the Galician Government, is conceived with the intention of regrouping all the courts in the city of Pontevedra, while creating the space needed in the next years. The new building is communicated with the old one through a walkway, forming both a single functional unit.    The exterior image of the building is given by two clear conditions, such as the urban area and the adjacent architecture, especially the existing court. This is why the new building façade is based on curve wedges and serial windows.   At the urban level, the building is situated on a trapezoidal plot situated at a considerably high level compared to the train’s arrival and... More

Lilyfield House is a spatial assembly of internal and external rooms and volumes, opening to the light, to green spaces and rising to the district outlook. The rooms and platforms of the house pviot around a central atrium, integrating portions of a historic shop.   Accessible from only two sides and subject to acoustic constraints under a flight path, these 3-storey alterations and additions cater for family living and working from home. Accommodation includes two living areas, a large kitchen and dining area, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a home office, existing garage, carport and outbuilding.   A reduced materials palette of off-form concrete, black steel, plywood and bamboo flooring and historic fabric in white-set plast... More

These days we hear a lot about workplaces of the future – but where does the architecture fit into that? This question was our point of departure for Market Lane, a new office project that kicked off a new chapter of experimentation at Elenberg Fraser. With a massive generational shift underway in the workforce – did you know millenials willmake up the majority of Australia’s workforce by 2020? – we wanted to understand exactly what makes people want to work at, and stay working at, a workplace. As you know, our studio is all about art and science, so it makes sense that we conducted an intensive three month researchplatform into office architecture after embarking on this project, collaborating with a workplace pla... More

This Buena Park home, designed in 1978 by Chicago architect Marcel Friedes, had not been updated since construction. The new owners wanted a total renovation with a floor plan to open the space and maximize natural light. The program called for a contemporary kitchen, new master suite, spa-like bathrooms, study, art studio, and multipurpose space for adults and kids. ​ At the center of the home was an enclosed two-story atrium, a unique element underused in the original design. Our plan reimagines the atrium as family space. We removed walls to integrate it with the rest of the interior and added a glass roof, creating a light well for the home.   The new atrium is bordered by a rock garden and custom blackened steel planters fille... More

The owners of this 1880s Italianate two-flat wanted to convert the property to a single-family home. The design intent was to preserve the facade in accordance with landmark regulations, renovate the interior, and add contemporary steel and glass space at the back to offer an escape from daily life. The addition is a two-story space evoking the typology of an orangery—a glass-enclosed conservatory common in England where the owners have lived. The structure was unified by a three-story atrium with a steel and wood staircase connecting all floors. With large skylights, the atrium functions as a light well for lower floors. Steel catwalks bridge the front and rear of the home at the second and third levels.A unique element is an operable 17ft... More