Calgary, Alberta, Canada | Type: Commercial | Size: 22000 sf | Year: 2023
The challenge for this project was to renovate 22000 sf of office space for a robotics start-up into a space that encourages innovation and collaboration. In respect of a modest budget, we wanted to use off-the-shelf materials, and allow the properties of the given material to inform the design.
We quickly became enamoured with the possibilities afforded by simple polyester rope. When hung, it produces loose parabolic forms that can react to programmatic and spatial requirements with ease. We utilized a parametric script to produce a series of pavilions that serve different collaborative spaces – a board room, a café, meeting rooms and game rooms. These were strategically placed throughout the space in order to create a subtle ordering of program, producing an ephemeral choreography between program, light, shadow and view.
In the spaces around and between each pavilion we loosely interspersed the company’s various work groups, allowing people to easily flow between departments and collaborate. This was critical to the operations of our client, as they wanted their various divisions to flow together, encouraging interaction and the cross-pollination of ideas.