OneSize by Origins Architects

Amy Frearson | 24 April 2011 Leave a comment

Dutch practice Origins Architects have designed this office in Amsterdam for motion graphic designers Onesize, incorporating a row of free-standing timber arches over a meeting table.

The polygon starts as a solid form and then breaks down into a series of ribs, creating both fully and partially enclosed spaces.

This timber shape subdivides the office, encasing two meeting areas and a darkened space for projection and studio work.

The photography is by Stijn Poelstra

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The following details are from the architects:

Onesize office by Origins Architects

The client, a motion graphics designer firm Onesize needed certain dark spaces for projection and studio work.

The visual modelling work that is done in the studio inspired me to make an object with a minimal of polygons, transforming the program into an interesting shape and in the meantime subdividing the space for a clear routing.

We used low grade spruce multiplex better known as underlayment which is usually used under carpeting.

Besides the cost issue we strongly believed that the juxtaposition of high definition detailing and a low grade material would make both stand out better. This contrast is also echoed in the relation between the existing building and the central sculptural shape. Wood & concrete, detail and material, dark & light.

I hoped to create an interesting and intriguing space with minimal means. We started out with more complex shapes, but the simpler they became the better the result. Besides, our office specialises in sustainable building, so we were also keeping an eye on the environmental impact. By doing so we actually came up with a sculptural volume that hardly has any saw losses in the making. The most important result is that the interior really fits the client, both in terms of program and in appearance.

We needed to make a few key decisions on the materialisation of the interior spaces so that acoustics, lighting, fireproofing etc. were all handled properly. By choosing a builder in a preliminary phase we managed to control the whole process quite well, which also shows in the result.