Brilliant corners: a surprising kinetic collision of solids and voids for an LA office

Morphosis' design of new offices, for Ove Arup & Partners in Los Angeles, celebrates the nature of materials used in construction: wood, steel, concrete. It does this with strange juxtapositions, angles and fragments that disturb balance. Much of this takes place overhead, above the office paraphernalia and the handsome solidity of a polished concrete floor. Here is an appropriate metaphor for Arup's engineering skills and for circumstances. The kinetic, challenging spirit that informs the work of this Los Angeles practice suggests regard for the industrial tradition in California that has had an effect on one architectural stream in the state.

Writing in this magazine, (AR September 1992), James Steele claims that the industrial history of the state is frequently overlooked. But this legacy has informed the architecture of Holt Hinshaw, Frank Israel and others as well as Morphosis. Here, notes Steele, 'is the continued inventive, technological thread that goes back to the transcontinental railroad and clipper ship and emerges in the aerospace, defence and movie industries which make up such a vital part of the state's economy'.

Arup's offices have been inserted into part of the shell of an existing industrial building on an industrial estate. The plan, consisting of two connected rectangles, is a simple one; with some enclosed rooms (for conference, ancillary staff and library) contained at the periphery. Other rooms for conferences and offices, and a kitchen, have been arranged in a line across the length of the building. This line connects the two parts of the building on plan, and physically separates the quieter areas, such the entrance, from the constant noise produced by the engineers.

Communication, whether simply visual or physical, is an important element in the design of these offices; enclosures are rendered more or less transparent by glass partitions.

The interdisciplinary nature of the firm is expressed by making the engineers' offices an open space, with desks and tables arranged in L-shapes so that small groups can work together. Groups are separated from one another by low walls across which people can talk.

Apart from the expressive inclinations of the architects, budgetary constraints have encouraged invention. This interior, as suggested above, is about the building of buildings. This is manifested in structural details and raw finishes, and the implication of historical continuity.

The plywood ceiling, with its herring-bone strutting, reminiscent of early industrial sheds and festooned with acoustic panels and modern lighting, spans the space above frameless glass walls and modern equipment. Large white walls of perforated aluminum conceal the acoustic panels, which cure the the building's poor acoustics. Cut and angled, occasionally veering off in odd directions, these sharply modelled planes possess a sculptural quality and reflect light under the shadowy strutting.

The floor -- concrete panels laid out to an antique pattern and buffed -- makes a solid anchor for the design.

[CHART OMITTED]

COPYRIGHT 1994 EMAP Architecture
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning