The project focuses on the transformative power of outdoor experience, and because of this, the architecture arose from a site plan concept that would maximize the allocation and experience of outdoor space.  The building forms and their placement on the site reverses one’s conception of positive and negative space; between the forms and the voids scattered around the site, the visitor finds both prospect and refuge as they move from shadow to light, from compression into expansion.  

In the design, what traditionally would serve as the buildings ground floor lobby has been removed, bringing only the core to the site and elevating the building above.  The floor plates are hung on suspension cables tied back to the core, creating column-free space through the interior and down to the ground.  This parallels the experience outside, as people can move freely through the building and on the site without feeling the constraints of a grid.  

The envelope is hung as a curtain wall, bringing light to the interior at all levels and dissolving the structures as they rise vertically from the site.  The ground plane is shaded with a series of tensile structures that play on the larger structural ideas found in the architecture.  The play between using steel members in a flexure system to an axially loaded system reverses, just as space on the site reverses, challenging our conceptions of what is or is not truly the architecture in this project.  By using this form of shading, the structures can filter light differently depending on orientation and the opacity of the shade cloth itself, giving character to the site much different than the spaces under the building themselves where shadows are more distinctly defined.  Overhead,  bridges connect the building at varying level again shading and offering a layering of space that suggests a playful and free movement happening outside the formal paths defined on the ground plane.   Program spaces also follow suit; studio space, retail, a farmers market and bike repair shop exist as outdoor spaces and merge the program also to this concept of the site.  From a standpoint of sustainability, building footprints overall have been minimized, reducing energy consumption on every level from initial construction through lifetime operational costs. Here, the transformative power of the outdoors works not only as an experience but as a model for future development.  This is keenly apt as the setting for this project is currently undergoing change, and being a leader in future-minded development is perfectly in line with the client's mission.