Driven to create environments that provide “joy within, and function throughout," Studio Ma drew on its sustainable design expertise to inform the innovative renovation, ensuring the new law offices would be positioned to achieve net-energy-neutral performance in coming years.
Optimised to accept solar and other net-zero energy technologies, the workplace design offers employees a healthy, well-ventilated and visually open office home filled with natural daylight to nurture a culture of collaboration and connectivity.
The reimagined building needed to feel and operate as one large open office with strong visual connections among staff members, while also accommodating private offices where the firm's lawyers conduct sensitive, confidential work.
The inventive solution transforms the structure into a large, two storey collaborative space along with enclosed offices and conference rooms, all acoustically isolated from one another by elegant glass partitions. A new mezzanine allows for expansion and amenities.
Meticulous detailing of the black-framed glass partitions ensures carefully controlled acoustics while allowing daylight and openness indoors and views to the outside.
The transparent partitions bring daylight and views deep into the building interior, offering all staff members access to natural sunlight everywhere they work. A set of operable skylights illuminates the spaces from above while also circulating fresh air by means of a chimney or stack effect, a technique that draws ventilation air and circulates cooler air toward work areas, where needed, and flushes hot air out of the roof.
Large glass openings on the building's exterior likewise allow daylight in and connect occupants to the surrounding neighbourhood. A continuous façade of modern wood louvers wraps the entire building, shading it from the desert sun's harsh rays.
Studio Ma expanded the project scope to include a mezzanine level with a fitness centre for employees that doubles as a meditation room and an amenity deck to house team-building exercises and public events. A café with a break area for casual socialising is also centrally located for staff and visiting clients to enjoy.