French- Lebanese architecture firm GM Architects has unveiled its design for the launch of Tortuga Batroun, a resort community located next to the ancient coastal city of Batroun, in the north of Lebanon.

The project evokes the essence of escapism, privacy and well being, with views of the Mediterranean sea as well as an exclusive beach access.

Galal Mohmoud, founder of GM Architects said: “Respectful of its close and distant rich Mediterranean environment, the mix of protective solid stone walls with white adobe truly characterise the architectural traditions of northern Lebanon coast, providing a sense of place and belonging through contemporary settings.”

Tortuga Batroun features suspended wooden volumes with large openings to the sea which displays a modern interpretation of traditional fishermen shacks, scattered throughout the shoreline.

“Indoor and outdoor spaces flow through limitless boundaries allowing owners to open up spaces to their private gardens, pools, shaded terraces and most of all to the sea view right in front,” Mahmoud said.

He continued: “Pedestrian walkways throughout the development are reminiscent of regional village paths with lush greenery, natural stone finishes and shaded lounging areas.”

The complex is presented as scattered architecture that follows the natural topography of the land and allows all indoor spaces to form a direct connection with the sea.

Last week, DesignMENA visited Milan to view the latest collaboration between Hansgrohe’s luxury design brand, Axor and Italian designer and architect, Antonio Citterio at the firm’s Italian showroom on Via Durini 15.

The new collection, entitled Axor Citterio E, starts off where the last collection, Axor Citterio M left off, combining the importance of elegance, quality and worth.

“Our successful partnership with Antonio Citterio began 14 years ago, said Philippe Grohe, head of Axor. “The success story that began with the Axor Citterio collection is continually evolving. Axor Citterio E is a charming combination of modern and classical features- elegant and timeless products of the highest quality that not only enhance the bathroom as a whole, but also our experience with the element of water.”

He went on to say that the new collection really focuses on the idea of value and worth, and added that “Antonio is the best designer to work in value”, explaining that when creating the collection, “we added the best value of Citterio M and put it all into one mixer”.

Grohe said that with this new collection, they used the model of the former one and “cleaned it up” so only the essentials remained.

One of the greatest accomplishment of Axor Citterio E, Grohe said is the “different elements of design” combined into a single mixer. “This I think is a big challenge,” he commented, demonstrating the areas of smoothness and curvature contrasting with hard, straight lines that creates the signature look of the mixers.

Speaking of the various finishes, Citterio commented: “The different finishes really allows one to be able to create some segmentation in the market when it comes to the different regions. I think the darker coloured ones would be more interesting to the Middle East market.”

He added that with the new collection, “it is very easy to understand the functions and you have a very good perception of value and in the Middle East, people really admire these perceptions of value as the market’s tastes are becoming more sophisticated.”

Citterio continued: “The result of this most recent collaboration is the ‘essence of luxury’. The products are not only characterised by flexible implementation, but also by exceptional ease of use and a pleasant touch and feel.”

The fixtures in the collection possess a balance of smooth shapes, clean lines and a precious surfaces with soft and slender mixer handles characterising the entire collection’s design. The 37 products that are part of the collection create a harmonious aesthetic and can be used in a variety of styles, from art nouveau to a more modern look.

Easy volume and temperature control is also an important feature in the new collection, from washbasin to bathtub and show mixers.

Axor states that “the various handles of the thermostat modules allow the user to intuitively grasp their functions: the cross-handle controls water volume and the cylindrical thermostat handle controls the temperature.In hotel bathrooms, a two-way diverter clearly indicates which shower head is currently in use.”

In addition to the Axor Citterio E range, Axor also launched its accessories line also designed by Antonio Citterio called the Axor Universal Accessories that complement the designer’s latest collection.

Axor will be exhibiting its collections in Dubai in October at Downtown Design.

You can also view our Facebook album for images of the collection launch.

DesignMENA visited Brand Creative’s eclectic and graphic-inspired office in Tecom and spoke to its co-founder Carla Conte about how they started out and inspiration behind the office design.

Brand Creative began its work in 2011, when there was “a downtime in Dubai,” as Conte describes. She said: “A lot of retailers were still actually investing in dubai but couldn’t afford to go to the big agencies and I just felt like, ‘Ok, this is a good niche. I want to keep working and want to give people something new and really fill the gap’ and it immediately took off.

“We started four and a half years ago and never had a slow time,” she added.

The company started with two people, Conte and her husband and work partner, Mohammed El Hijazi, “but by the end of the first year we had 5 people and then between then and now, we are up to 11 people”, Conte said.

The firm are now planning on opening a branch in India and are currently undergoing all the legal procedures. With four more designers based there, Brand Creative will make up 15 employees in total.

The firm has well-rounded disciplinary components featuring interior design, architecture and, as uncommon as it is, graphic design.

But Conte states that the graphic design section is of great importance to the office and will continue to strive.

“I think this is more my style, but I love the idea of designing graphics and having them as part of the environment. We articulate space using graphics. Its like being an interior designer but sitting with a graphic designer and coming up with a pattern, something that then he can take and bring into the business stationery, the business cards and the logo.”

“Everything is consistent and when you say that you are branding spaces you really are,” she added.

Conte explained that “sometimes we only get branding and logo projects and although it is not the core of the firm, we are an interior design firm first and foremost, but business wise it helps.

Speaking of designing the space, Conte said: ”It’s obviously very open concept and when we first inherited the space, we couldn’t do much with it. So a wall existed and another room existed but with the meeting room, we opened up the wall and we had the opportunity to put a door there but I thought, as a designer, one thing that would be helpful to other designers, even if they can’t be in the meeting, is to be able to hear what is happening, to hear the reaction of the client and to understand the subtle nuances of the feedback.”

She continued: “In terms of spatial arrangement, I had to put a window in my office because I thought I cant be one of those bosses. I need to be part of everybody else.”

When asked to describe the signature parts of the office, she replied: “Neutral tones, very graphic, lots of custom pieces, patterns. The black and white photos are people we consider geniuses. I wanted to surround myself with positive people even if its only in photographs.”

Speaking of future plans, Conte said that she is looking to grow the firm. “There is a bigger space on the same floor so we thought about moving there and keeping this one as a sample space.”

Last year we had interviewed Carla Conte for the first time for Commercial Interior Design magazine. Read the article here. 

UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has given the go ahead for a number of major projects planned for Dubai, including the $1.5 billion Royal Atlantis Resort on Palm Jumeirah.

A panel discussion led by Middle East Architect editor, Nick Ames, dealt with the influence of architecture in hospitality projects, one of the main topics focusing on current trends in the market.

Entitled “Architecture, build and landscaping for the future”, the panelists came from different areas of  architectural design, from structural engineering to design and development.

Speaking of recent happening in the hospitality sector, Chris Brown, vice president at HOK said that there are more tailored brands coming into the market that is starting to affect the interiors of hospitality spaces.

“I see a little more change on the interior design side with a more timeless, classic look and less extravagant interiors and more seamless integration.”

He added: “Technology is also something that is fully integrated in hotels today, to the extent where we are actually having to distract the guest since everyone is so heads down into their devices. They are looking for individual bespoke experiences but unfortunately all of us are living our lives almost virtually so that genuine experience becomes more and more important.”

Another trend, said Bart Leclercq, head of structures design at WSP, is the boutique movement with a rise of two to three star hotels that cater to a clientele with a smaller budget.

He also mentioned that refurbishment is also big with hotels at the moment, “probably because of the Expo 2020 but also because some of them have now been around for years and are looking for a make over and looking to see what other, more recent hotels are doing”.

Head of design and development at Meraas Holding, Karim Benkirane said that “from a developers standpoint, the new ‘it’ word that we are saying as a trend in the market is ‘transformational spaces’. The lobby is now not just the lobby, we have different kinds of travellers like millennial travels who are looking for spaces that are like living spaces and we see that different services like the bar and the concierge services all integrated into that lobby space. That also makes it a much more efficient space and much more directed to the rooms.

“I think from an interiors and architectural point of view, our clients are looking for more authentic spaces as well, stuff that’s tangible and honest with materials that are much more earthy. I think that there’s a confusion between opulence and luxury. One of the trend words that are in Asia is “barefoot luxury” and I think that you don’t really tend to see that here in Dubai but I think with the resort lifestyle you will see more of that in the coming years,” he added.

Meraas is currently working on a major resort project in Muscat alongside WSP and has currently unveiled its La Mer development project at Cityscape last week.

Alongside the Axor Citterio E collection that was launched in Milan last week, DesignMENA also viewed Axor’s latest accessories collection, the Axor Universal Accessories, also in collaboration with Italian designer and architect Antonio Citterio.

This is the first of Axor, Hansgrohe’s designer brand, has introduced a comprehensive system of accessories that includes handles, bars and shelf elements. These can be used either individually or as a systems solution in bathrooms as well as in kitchens.

Philippe Grohe, head of Axor, said the high-quality components of the line gives rise to “harmonious solutions”. He added that “these can be re-arranged or complemented by adding more components if the need arises. This means, customising room designs become much simpler.”

Citterio explained that “accessories have a significant effect on the overall appearance of a room; they are an essential part of its decor.

“When I design something, I strive to create products that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. For instance, bars inside the shower function as a support for other accessories and serve as towel bars outside the shower.”

There are twelves accessories in total, each offering clean lines and generous surfaces that, much like the Axor Citterio E line, focus on the element of high-worth and value.

Materials used such as chrome-plated metal, mirrored and white glass contribute to the durability and hygiene of the products as well as making it easy to clean.

Special customer requests are also available with the in-house Axor Manufaktur, which individualises the standard products.

During a panel discussion at the Hotel Show, moderator Nick Ames, editor of Middle East Architect magazine, asked the panelists whether architects are mainly concerned with creating iconic structures or do they consider all the different end users?

Karim Benkirane, head of design and development at Meraas Holding said that creating a stand out design is important but one should never neglect the needs of the end users.

“There is obviously a marketing element to the iconic nature of hotels. With Bvlgari [Hotel developed by Meraas] that was part of the drivers and while they have a very strong brand, they have to differentiate themselves as well from their other competitors, the Burj Al Arab, the hotels in Donwtown. So yes, it is important but I think the guest experience is still critical. We are not working there for our customers to come as a one-off, we need a repeat market,” he said.

Bart Leclercq, head of structures design at WSP, in contrast believes an iconic design is a driving factor for demand.

“Let’s not forget that iconic structures and iconic hotels actually attract a lot of people as well so I think if you’re working on a design and it’s very iconic, I think that’s a very fresh start to get those clients through the doors, so I think it is important for a building to be iconic,” he commented.

Vice president of HOK, Chris Brown, on the other hand, reminded everyone that deciding the importance of creating an iconic structure for a specific building is based on the developer and most of the times, does not depend on the architect.

“It depends on the vision of the developer, the engagement with us as designers because obviously we are delivering their vision. And it’s always very interesting when the operator comes on board- how early or later in the process because they will have a different view on what’s appropriate for their brand,” he said.

“So I think engaging with your client, really understanding what their vision is- it is their building. I mean I know, I am an architect, it’s tempting to wrap your arms around a project and drive it in a certain way but particularly in hotels that’s going to get you in quite a lot of trouble,” Brown added.

Crystal-themed towers will be erected in Dubai as a collaboration between Austrian crystal giant Swarovski and Dubai-based developer Tebyan.

This first-of-its-kind project, branded ‘Space Marveled by Swarovski’ will be a luxurious, resort-style residential complex, featuring exquisite crystal-themed innovations including sparkling lighting solutions and crystal interiors.

Consisting of two high rises, Sparkle Towers will be located in Dubai Marina and is described by the developers as a “crystal-themed masterpiece”.

Managing director of Tebyan, Naji Alia said: “We are pioneers by nature, and we are delighted to have pioneered the very first crystal-themed masterpiece of its kind in Dubai.

“Our partnership with Swarovski is a harmonious balance of innovation in property and innovation in crystal design. Space Marvel by Swarovski will boost Dubai’s status as a global leader in elite property and hospitality, ushering residents to a new level of elegance and extravagance,” he said.

The first tower (ground plus 29 floors) will offer panoramic views of Dubai Marina from three sides while the second tower (ground plus 14 floors) overlooks the Jumeirah Beach Residence with partial views of the marina and the sea. A residential podium connects the two towers.

“All over the world, Dubai is known as a haven for luxury where simply having a ‘good’ residence is just not good enough. Our style-sensitive residents and visitors seek nothing but the very best, and elegance is not only appreciated but demanded,” Alia said.

Peter Pelletier, senior vice president at Swarovski said: “As a premium supplier to the project, Swarovski is delighted to be able to present the residents of Sparkle Towers at Dubai Marina with an opportunity to personally experience the joy of crystal through a whole range of sparkling applications. Our input will also ensure that their chosen places of residences strands out as a unique in a city where luxury is the norm.”

With Eid around the corner, we thought now would be a great time to shed light on magnificent Islamic structures from around the world that are not as well known as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem or the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

Islamic architecture has graced most parts of the world and we would like to highlight some of these beautiful structures.

While its plans for a resort in Ras Al Khaimah may have collapsed, Real Madrid is still pursuing leisure plans in the Middle East, with a theme park in Abu Dhabi a strong likelihood.

The Spanish football club had signed a deal with the RAK government and the RAK Marjan Island Football Investment Fund to build a 50-hectare themed resort on the man-made island.

It had been scheduled for completion in January 2015, but the plans were shelved last year and the RAK authorities are negotiating with new partners for the project.

However, speaking at the club’s general assembly, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez indicated that it still had ambitions for the UAE, Sport 360 reported.

“We’re getting there,” he said. “There has never been any economic cost to us. But instead of doing it in a small Emirate, we’re trying to do it in a location in Abu Dhabi.

“We are continuing to advance plans for a theme park where the experience of living Real Madrid will be unique.”

This year’s Cityscape held in Dubai displayed the regeneration of projects in the region. Here, we mark the projects that were a great success at the exhibition.

Downtown Design will be showcasing an installation called the Home of Tomorrow which presents the potential of an interactive home, fusing technology and high-end design.

The installation will inform visitors about how this easy-to-use technology can transform our every day lives with the use of smart technologies that link together various home appliances.

These home appliances are linked to one another through Wi-Fi  and can be controlled by using an mobile app that is availabkle through a touch pad or a mobile phone.

Working in collaboration with ikonhouse, the high tech installation will showcase features such as window-blinds that roll up and down depending on sunset and sunrise, high tech bulbs that turn off automatically as well as glass panels that transform from transparent to opaque to provide privacy.

Cristina Romelli Gervasoni, fair director of Downtown Design said: “Home automation is already here and it is intuitive to use. We can imagine that the smart home of tomorrow will learn our habits and adapt to our lifestyles, blending seamlessly into our every day lives.

“The key is to make sure that we never notice that all these technologies are there. We are excited to see how our visitors interact with the exhibit.”

Downtown Design will take place from 28 to 31 October at The Venue in Downtown Dubai.

There has been an array of interesting and  controversial projects announced for London recently including a garden bridge over the River Thames, a “cycling utopia” called SkyCycle by Foster + Partners and the redevelopment of Crystal Palace.

Here is a total of 13 projects that could cause a great change to London’s architectural landscape.

Dubai-based developer Meraas Holding has announced an additional grand entrance plaza and canal development that will interconnect its three theme parks in Dubai Parks & Resorts project in Jebel Ali.

Read more about this project here. 

Wallpaper* magazine, in association with Dubai Design District (d3) held an exhibit called ‘Middle East Revealed’ during the London Design Festival, bringing together creatives from seven countries in the Middle East.

Some of these creatives include designers from the UAE, including Khalid Shafar and Aljoud Lootah. 

Here  you can view the various designs exhibited at the show. You can also view our visit to Khalid Shafar’s design studio and showroom. 

Photography by Mark Cocksedge 

Kuwait and Spain-based architecture firm AGi Architects has won the First Prize at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) in the Completed Buildings Religious category.

La Ascension del Senor Church, located in Seville, Spain won against four other finalists including the Netherlands and Singapore.

The work for the Catholic church was completed in September 2013 and is part of a newly-established residential area in Seville.

“We are very pleased to have succeeded in conveying the values of our project to the jury, those which have inspired us to develop a contemporary religious building designed from economical saving and sustainability premises, a simple and efficient building providing the neighborhood with a landmark,” said Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, co-founding partner of the firm, who presented the project in Singapore.

“Our goal has been to devise a church that is very close to the community, creating a meeting and fraternization place in order to develop both spiritual and welfare tasks.”

AGi Architects is led by Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea and Kuwaiti Nasser Abulhasan whose other projects include a Kuwait government complex as well as various residential projects, one of them being a commissioned modernist beach house in Kuwait.

Here are the latest images of the new Sparkle Towers set for Dubai Marina, a collaboration between Swarovski and Dubai-based developer Tebyan.

Read full story here.

A contemporary exploration of Middle Eastern design was showcased at London Design Festival this year at an exhibition called ‘Middle East Revealed’ featuring Emirati designers as well as talents from other countries in the region.

Organised by Wallpaper* magazine, in association with Dubai Design District (d3), the exhibition revealed a thought-provoking narrative from various creative disciplines ranging from furniture design, fashion and photography.

Curated by Wallpaper* editor-at-large, Suzanne Trocme, the show aimed to draw attention to the rapidly developing creativity in the Middle East.

“Judging by the exhibition name, ‘Middle East Revealed’, they were really trying to highlight the contemporary design of the Middle East. And that’s how the whole exhibition was presented. It was a new, fresh, contemporary perspective of design from the Middle East,” said Emirati designer, Khalid Shafar whose work was exhibited.

“Personally I believe there is a kind of cliché perception, a specific perception of what Middle Eastern design is, but this exhibition had reflected a totally different perspective and it also fit with what London Design Festival is generally offering so we were very much melted with the other surrounding exhibitions at the festival,” he added.

Pieces of Shafar’s ‘Illusion’ series were displayed, along with other emerging and established names in the Middle East design industry including Emirati designer, Aljood Lootah whose ‘Unfolding Unity Stool’ was presented. Other designers such as Taher Assad-Bakhtiari, Nada Debs and Fadi Sarieddine were also present at the exhibition, representing countries like Lebanon, Turkey and Iran.

Shafar said the show was a rewarding platform to tap into the London market and creative scene: “I knew it would be a good exposure since I’ve never exposed my work in London before so that was another opportunity for me,” he explained.

He also commented that ‘Middle East Revealed’ created an opportunity for international audiences to change their perspective on what they assume Middle Eastern design represents.

“I always see people associate it with certain attributes, certain styles, certain colours, and I think what we did with this exhibition was give people an idea that Middle Eastern design is not necessarily what people assume it is,” he explained.

“It is not Orientalism, it is not ethnicity, and it is not always classical or glam-and-glow. We can be subtle, we can have simple lines, we can be modern, we can have certain materials that are not always luxurious, but ones that can be rustic. So I think we gave people a good mix of products on display.”

He added that although, the pieces exhibited were representations of contemporary design, the Middle Eastern identity was not at loss.

“Just because we are working with a contemporary style it doesn’t mean that we are losing our identity within our creations. There was always a subtle touch of the Middle Eastern feel in all the products, either in the craftsmanship or the materials, or calligraphy. So there was always a spirit of the region and I believe that we had sent a clear message of this to the public.”

Commenting on the feedback received by the visitors of the exhibition, Shafar said: “I had heard a lot of surprised and shocked feedback from people, about how they had never expected to see Middle East design to be represented in this way. It was clear that many people already had some kind of expectation of what the show would be like but what we had shown them was something else.”

See full exhibition here.

BIM is possibly the most popular acronym of this year’s design and build industry. The buzzword, however, can be detected more frequently within architecture circles, while its usage is far less when moving toward the interior design profession.

WSP has defined BIM (Building Information Modelling) as something that “describes the process of designing a building collaboratively using one coherent system of computer models rather than separate sets of drawings.”

The firm concludes by stating that adopting it is more than just switching to a new software. It is important that one studies and learns the fundamentals of this technology because “BIM is a whole new paradigm”.

So, are interior designers really behind on entering this “whole new paradigm”? And if not, then what has kept them back and how can this new technology benefit the design profession?

When interviewing various designers in the region, many expressed no knowledge of interior design firms using BIM in its full capacity.

Linsey Thomson, Interior Design Teaching Fellow at Heriot- Watt University, who had studied the market in terms of BIM competency, says: “Out of the 10-20 commercial interior design firms that I’ve contacted,I would estimate 40% are BIM competent from start to finish.”

She explains that many interior design companies understand that the implementation of BIM within interior design is “in its infancy stages, therefore most ID firms are happy at this moment to study the market, review case studies and analyse the outcomes by the ID companies leading locally in BIM”.

She adds that interior design firms that have “projects where the entire consultant team of architecture, MEP and contractors set the project benchmark by using BIM for all project attributes find it obviously easier to make the transition to the BIM mind set.”

On the other hand, “some successful interior design firms, for the time being, are happy to implement other strategies, excluding BIM, that they feel satisfy their established processes and current set up.”

She also mentions that there are firms that are working on smaller projects with shorter time frames and “cannot shift easily to working with a radically different software interface”. However, she adds that “monitoring BIM success stories within the UAE commercial interior design market may educate and slowly persuade” others to follow accordingly.

Bluehaus is one of the firms that has fully integrated BIM into its interior design component and other fields, including MEP, engineering and architecture disciplines, ranging across all phases of design from concept through to project completion.

“Our understanding is that the only firms that are using BIM are architectural consultancies. Naturally some of these have interior design capability, but even then we are not aware of any that are using BIM,” says Tony Archibold, design director at Bluehaus.

“The adoption of BIM within the  interior design field has lagged behind architecture adoption of the technology, even internationally, which means BIM has little impact on interior design presently and that is a shame,” Archibold comments.

Elizabeth Peters, BIM manager at Aecom explains the difficulty in employing the software within interior design firms in the region: “It’s very difficult for interior design teams to utilise BIM software and processes if the architect, engineers, and project managers are not aligned to BIM. As such, it’s difficult for these teams to justify the full investment of ‘going BIM’ if they aren’t going to be able to change their processes across the board on all projects.”

Peters adds: “I think BIM has a tremendous potential to enhance an interior designer’s ability to organise their design and understand the spaces they are designing. However, the fact that so many other disciplines aren’t on board makes it difficult to move forward.”

Isabel Pintado, managing director at LWD Interiors, says that the firm has not utilised BIM within the firm and is not planning to in the near future.

“Training staff and implementing BIM for an interior design firm means an expense and down time that are hard to justify,” she says.

She notes that the technology would bring together different disciplines involved in a project, “although the effort to implement against the benefits we would reap from doing so are currently not balanced”.

Thomson also agrees that BIM can create a uniting factor across various disciplines: “A software data network that has established the evolution of our industry and allows all the members of a construction project, a platform on which to speak exactly the ‘same language’, shall no doubt pull everyone together for the duration of the building project.”

Archibold says: “The technology opens new possibilities, not only of smarter working practices (less mistakes, better design and site co-ordination, and ultimately better quality control), but also the ability to take design in new directions that are not possible with conventional technologies.”

However he notes a fall back of BIM, according to Archibold is that it is “another thing to learn, which is barrier a when existing CAD is already incorporated in designer’s workflow. There is also a perception that it is less flexible than CAD, which is true in the beginning if using the default ‘out of the box’ component libraries but once designers realise that you can mask your components, the sky is the limit”.

When asked whether BIM should be made mandatory, Thomson says: “I do support the idea that projects of a certain scale consist of 100% BIM led workforce but mandatory for all interior designers is a little too soon a proposal.”

Archibold, on the other hand, says that he is not in favour of anything being made mandatory because that destroys innovation and diversity within the industry.

“That said,” he adds, “we are currently in the middle of a design revolution which is centred on the transition of digital-to-physical and the reverse, and if you are not engaged with this, then you are like the guy still writing books with a feather quill while Guttenberg prints with his printing press.”

Aedas’ Sandcrawler building in Singapore has received an Honor Award for the 2014 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Northwest and Pacific Region (NWPR) Design Awards, being one of the three projects out of 115 submissions that received such high attention.

Designed by Andrew Bromberg of Aedas, Sandcrawler is the new regional headquarters for Lucasfilm Singapore as well as serving as headquarters for Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) and ESPN Asia Pacific.

The jury commented on the confidence of the project with its bold but controlled execution and described it as “a powerful parti with lots of architectural pyrotechnics”.

The building itself is located on plot CX2-1, boasting a streamlined horseshoe form designed as a solution to the masterplanning restrictions which dictated the roof height and slope as well as the amount of required elevation on each face.

“The shared desire to allow for increased level of social interaction space was the most rewarding part of the project,” said Broomberg. “This includes the semi-public courtyard below and the state-of-the-art 100-seat private theatre which is located in the middle of the office space as both a functional component of their work as well as a symbol of the result of the work.”

The 2014 AIA NWPR Design Awards celebrates the best of architecture from AIA members in the Northwest and Pacific region, representing high standards in sustainability, innovation and building performance.