SEG Office Building

The approach for this project was to create a beautiful park-like setting with a building that embraced the site. There was an existing building on the site that was very distinctive. It was a black reflective glass building with chamfered corners. The owner wanted to embrace some of these materials, but also wanted the new building to be more current. We created a reverse plinth for the office building by using low-iron glass on the first floor to create an extremely transparent space that connects with the park-like setting we developed. The other major structure we were tasked with was a 200-car parking garage. We sited this along the major street to help screen the site and provide privacy. The park setting was focused on a small existing pond. When we added the new office building and the parking garage, additional site detention became required.  We increased the pond size and introduced a waterfall feature to the pond. The waterfall feature enabled us to raise the water level closer to the finish floor without risking flooding the building. The waterfall also helps create a relaxing park atmosphere that joins the two buildings. The landscaping embraced the owner’s field of work, geology. We created these bands of plants reflecting the striations of geological formations. The entry walls and sign for the building also embrace this geological concept.