TREE RING

OFFICE

Location: 271 17 St., Atlanta, GA

Size: 11,500 sq. ft.

Stories (Total stories): 2 (25)

Year built: 2009

Occupancy type: Business

Concept

This project is inspired by the horizontal cross-section of a tree. By explicitly exposing the rings of trees, the office space represents the organization’s mission to promote the growth of trees.

CLIENT

The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Nebraska and the largest organization in the United States dedicated to tree planting . Their programs include managing and expanding public tree-planting campaigns as well as encouraging the public to participate in tree-planting programs.

Project Description

Biophilic and sustainable design elements were used to create a comfortable office space and to highlight the identity of the organization. The plants can reduce the stress level of the employees and improve the air quality of the office area. The walls, built by stacking wooden panels vertically, let sunlight into the entire space.

GRASSHOPPER DEFINITION

Environmental Analysis

This is a daylight performance analysis of the office space at 9 am. The building is oriented to the northeast and therefore receives less daylight than a building facing south. The wooden louver walls allow more natural light to enter the office space. The analysis shows that offices with the light-transmitting walls can receive more daylight than offices with normal, non-translucent walls.

Parametric Approach

The process of creating the shape of the tree ring structure on the walls is shown. First, the regular straight wall was restructured into an organic shape. Next, the parametric design elements were added to the organic shape of the walls, eventually reforming into wooden louver walls.