CASE STUDIES

OCAD U CO Incubator Offices, Toronto

This office was designed by Quadrangle firm. OCAD U has established a start-up incubator and executive training hub where public and private-sector clients can explore new pathways to innovation and problem-solving, informed by design thinking.

The space has an open concept that is divided by rich colors to bring out the upbeat and creative inspiration. When looking at these images, it does seem like a fun and fast pace office, and all the spaces are connected. There are many acoustic elements used for this office since it’s placed in a crowded city. The ceiling dropped down with sound-absorbing panels in most of the spaces, in closed spaces designers used carpet flooring to avoid echoing. Flooring is polished concrete that allows heavy foot traffic with low maintenance.

There are a lot of comfortable seatings like lounge chairs in the office that allow the employees to work for long hours comfortably anywhere they want which creates a sense of freedom in this layout. The office is very well lit by both natural light and artificial lights.

Designers succeed in serving the users the purpose of exploring the knowledge in a fun and professional way that the space is very engaging to people while having much room for a “classroom”.

Alchemist Retail Store, Miami

This retail store is a high-end place that was designed by Rene Gonzalez Architect. Alchemist brand represents the spirit of the avant-garde focusing on oneof-a-kind artisanal creations.

With such a client, Rene Gonzalez Architect has approached the design as chic and unique as possible with a constantly changing selection of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle items followed by the interior. The idea is to make the store more likely a gallery for each fashion designer.

Between the interior and exterior is a seamless transition with floor-to-ceiling windows and mirrored surfaces that reflect the sky above and the street below. The concept for the new Alchemist is the idea of an insulated box, a cocoon-like space that allows patrons to disconnect from the constant motion, sound, and heat of Miami Beach and to be enveloped in a calming language of motion, color, texture, and light. Melamine foam wraps the ceilings and walls, simultaneously acting as a buffer for the surrounding structure while providing a soft tactile quality that is rarely experienced in architecture.

The symmetrical pattern of the saw-tooth walls is accentuated by hidden LED light bands that produce a rhythmic changing composition of color that appears and disappears behind the surface of the foam walls.