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RS: Yes that is correct. It has these wonderfully bolted details, very machine like. There were three atriums within the buildings, which originally contained the vertical vessels for oil burning and power generation. It is about two hundred and forty feet tall and when the vessels were removed, there were three naturally formed mini atriums within the space. We then removed the decking to tie together the three atriums thus creating a very powerful space in which to engage functional objects for the client. The objects contained in these areas are the seminar room; the call center and general meeting place. The other object is the main auditorium.
v5: What identifies a programmatic element as an “object of the intervention” and what constitutes programmatic space that is a more general, “ether” like space.
RS: In a sense the program drives that and thereare a lot of regulations in Germany, which establish the necessity for perimeter offices for natural ventilation as well as light. So the majority of the office program naturally encircles the atrium with perimeter glass and that leaves a few special objects to occupy the atrium with severance from the parameter window system. Those objects (program elements ) being conference, seminar and meeting rooms, archive space and certain technical areas that are shown with horizontal silver bands in the model.
v5: So you identify those within the programmatic base and then begin to manipulate them spatially within the existing context?
RS: Right, I think the key to starting any design is to get the pieces in the right place and know that the client is satisfied with the distribution of the program. We struggled with that for a month or two and went through several variations before we
arrived at a place where the client was comfortable with the configuration and we also were satisfied. The sculpting work we are doing now is ending up with a positive result.
v5: Once you understand the location of an object (program element), what are the criteria for the form generation?
RS: In this instance it goes back to the clients end use, which is that they wanted a ‘theater-in-the-round’ auditorium. The reason is they wanted to get away from conventional projection systems and the way they present themselves. This company is wireless telecom and their technologies are cutting edge. They have a concept of a very personal space in which intimate dimensions are used and the speaker is standing essentially in a theater-in-the-round. All the projection technology happens at the desktop, something like an airline, flip-up, personalized television screen. In this case it would be more of a hybrid of a laptop computer with interactive capabilities. This theater is actually elliptical, which is taking the theater in the round and fitting it into this orthogonal grid and stretching it on the long axis of the atrium.
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