May 2009 Archives

Atlas Definition = Sterility and Opulence

Office building interiors are very similar in the sense of lobby spaces, cores, and office floor space;  it is the lobby spaces that are lavished with attention, creating expensive opulent spaces, with the office and circulation space sterile in comparison.

Each zone (office floor, core, lobby) is treated as separate compartments; and this treatment is utilized through most office blocks, therefore opulent lobby spaces become generic, in comparison to other office spaces and to the space it inhabits.

Opulence is specific to the situation that it is in; a space that is saturated with a certain style becomes generic in context to itself therefore a space has to have a reading of both sterility and opulence for the opulence not to lose its being.

This formal investigation looks at giving a reading of both sterility and opulence through varied transitions of the structural elements, materials as well as the spaces that they create.  The opulence comes from creating deviations of the generic program material and structure within the office space, anchoring the opulence to the generic background in which it sits.

Formal Language Diagrams Atlas Plate

The generic in context to canary wharf is the uniform office grid and flat surface that is in abundance throughout.  The opulence in context to this is creating deviations of the line, grid and surface, (thin to thick, straight to curved, flat to volumetric and smooth to fragmented) creating varying moments of opulence within a primarily generic environment thus not allowing the opulence to become generic.