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Vision Magazine
Main entrance reveals the floating roof line.
Opp Landscape and curvilinear structure
create a heightened dynamic underscored
with high transparency.
IT’S ABOUT GETTING THE STEEL BACK TO
ITS THINNEST AND SEEING GLASS WITH THAT
BEAUTIFUL EDGE SO THAT THE BUILDING SPEAKS
IN AN UNCOMPLICATED, ELEGANT WAY.
What inspired that shape?
We considered various canopies and a number
of other solutions that were ultimately quite heavy.
I wanted a real openness and airiness. That geometric
form within another geometric form of curved
element within a rectangle created a real dynamic
that is completely surrounded by glass. This helps
to accentuate that lineal roof which basically floats
in mid air.
It’s relatively column-free.
That’s why we have frameless glass rising from the
ground almost as if it’s coming straight out of the
earth. And glass runs straight into the roof. The back
walls drop short from the ceiling by about 600mm.
About every 600mm glass is inset into the wall. When
you view the glass it appears almost seamless. There’s
no frame in the glass anywhere. Between
the roof and the wall it’s frameless. Outside glass
is embedded into the wall.
Could you have achieved that result with
another material?
No. The only issue I had with glass was the movement
of the roof. The tolerances were complicated because
it’s a suspended roof without columns. Our glazing
contractors basically fine-tuned as we went along.
That was crucial because glass is embedded in the
roof and just floats, so if it moves what does that
mean for the glass? How do we protect that?
Open House