Quality Architecture Award

Lattice Work

A workplace is a cloud, a space where we are required to enter into a state of focus and often collaboration; a space where we need to be led and motivated.  An office building should guide the visitor and worker into its arms and inspire before being capable to instill focus and collaboration. A group of people collaborate to create a sum that is greater than the individuals, so the space they work in should inspire greatness. The work of architecture realised has been designed integrally and stems from a client brief, integrating structure with architecture & interiors as well as building services and environmental efficiency in a dexterous swipe.  Strung between two large planes to the left and right of the site a grid was conceived to optimize each aspect of the building. The grid is literally stretched between the two opposing walls to create spaces and volumes that inspire the greatness and confidence required.

At the heart of this latticework lies a functional sculpture that has its seeds in the pharaoh hound, a symbol synonymous for the owners to the nature of the business. This metaphor has been interpreted and developed in actual terms into agile forms and volumes that illuminate, seat, secure, receive, direct, transport and moreover inspire at the core of the entrance void.  They are ever present and powerful but subtle. Traversing the grid users find their way to their functional workspaces. And as they sit there, they can gaze at the exterior for a reminder of the natural world whence they came, but also look for the symbolic psychological part of where they want to go. For this purpose, we turn the two bounding planes into surfaces for inspiration: art, nature, light, leadership.  All is available around them. As it comes time to oscillate between work and rest, the reversal of focus is possible in relaxation by moving down or to the back of the building. And traversing the grid in reverse accompanies this psychological change to relax, before its time to spring into action creating a sustainable beneficial loop.