Santa Monica Office

'Constellation' of low-voltage lights seemingly random but placed for both task and general lighting.

Words from the Architect

Santa Monica Office, is a TI project designed to bring high design to the offices of a design-savvy developer in an otherwise unremarkable, "bank-on-the-ground-floor" building. The radical-but-functional design is aimed at distinguishing the client from others in the field.

Red cabinets provide plenty of storage and provide warmth to the glass-and-steel partitioned offices.

The fist design act involved the ceiling. We removed the suspended grid tiles, revealing an 11-foot height. We painted this a deep blue/black and hung criss-crossing low-voltage lights at 9 feet to create a constellation of lights, random enough to be unpredictable but carefully placed to illuminate working surfaces.

Blood red, angle-sided metal panels run the length of the ceiling of the main hallway, the route taken by clients to the conference room. A wall of dark red cabinets in the main space and above the copiers and file cabinets pull the color from the ceiling panels into the working space.

Details of ceiling panels.

Private offices were divided from the main space with a curving green glass wall (see red line in detail at left) to provide sound privacy.

8-foot tall raw steel walls separate each private office (bent to accommodate filing cabinets and welded with shelving). The same steel wraps structural columns, was used in the custom-designed glass-topped steel desks and custom bookshelves in the conference room.

Credits

• Text: Catherine Holliss
• Photographs: Catherine Holliss
  

View full page Pages: Previous Page 1 | 2