San Francisco | Federal Building | Thom Mayne (Morphosis)

[Koolhas]

Project of the month
Federal Building San Francisco
Arch. Thom Mayne (Morphosis)
This bold project is based on the concepts of movement and interaction between private and public spaces. Covering 56,206 m², the San Francisco Federal Building is one of the most ambitious projects by the Morphosis agency in terms of high environmental quality. This first-rate urban landmark redefines at the same time a social culture in the workplace by improving comfort and productivity of employees whilst shaking up the traditional administrative hierarchy. While Thom Mayne, 2005 Pritzker prize, is not a "green" architect as such - he often displayed a lack of interest, even a slight disdain vis-à-vis the principles of green architecture - the project is truly the result of a desire for sustainable development. In the last few years, an actual change took place within the Morphosis firm, notably with Tim Christ, project leader. At the same time, Morphosis worked in Europe where very strict standards apply to energy efficiency matters (Hypo bank, Klangenfurt/Austria). These lessons would later benefit projects in the United States.










Fonte: http://www.archiworld.eu/archinews/092007/as_news/newsletter09_en.htm