Riddell Advertising and Design

Hallway.

On level two and three, custom maple veneered and natural particle board workstations surround the 'canyon'. These studios for account executives, designers, and copywriters provide private work zones with complete computer and presentation surfaces which enjoy fantastic views to the town's surrounding mountain landscape. The sill of the strip window is at 4'-0" above finish floor and the window head is at 6'-2 1/2", so that the townscape is removed from the seated viewframe, preferring the panoramic the mountain vistas beyond. In addition to workstations, level two has a high-tech production processing room, a paste-up copy center and staff rest rooms. Level three has a fully equipped kitchen lunchroom looking south, a client reception area/product display area at the atrium edges, a library/think tank, and a grand presentation conference room. The third level gains sectional drama from its sloped and folded ceiling, which is a response to roof drainage patterns.

Exterior day.

Two distinctly different stair towers are used by staff more often than the elevator for short trips between levels. The south (main) tower has a 35' tall x 3" wide slot of glass set to greet the east light of morning; its light is modulated by open stair treads and landings of galvanized, pan-broken steel and an 'intensely' saturated red dividing wall. In the north stair a slash of west light reflects the detail of the south tower-stair treads are glu-lam beams with a natural OSB wafer-board clad dividing wall, giving a calm warmth to the passage. Simple moves give each stair space a unique experience. Similar pipe and cable railing details, daylight penetrations, and indirect night lighting strategies connect both spaces in essence.

Exterior entry side.

In this architecture, wood is dominant on both macro and micro levels: grand structural ideas and small craftsman-like details. This celebration of 'woodness' is most appropriate in considering issues of aesthetics, constructability, budget, and contextual relevance. At every level the Riddell building uses the romance of wood in awareness of historic precedent, and choreographs a poetry of light and view. This is a paradigm for a sensitive new vision of a town searching to define its architectural character--a building of its time striving to touch values of timelessness and 'place'.

Credits

• Text, Courtesy of the architect
• Photographs: Bill Timmerman

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