Form4 Architecture’s project, Innovation Curve Technology Park, has been honored by the Green Good Design Awards presented by The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies, in collaboration with The Chicago Athenaeum’s Museum for Architecture and Design.
The project, which recently broke ground in Palo Alto, California, “celebrates the creative process of invention” through its sweeping metal curves, which represent the highs and lows of exploratory research and development. The tall, two-story curves “rise to represent the crescendo of the creative spark and pragmatic analysis of ideas, and descend to transition into long, horizontal bands symbolizing the implementation phase of invention.”
The 13.5-acre campus will feature four buildings, totaling 265,895 square feet, which will be arranged around a central landscaped courtyard crossed by diagonal pedestrian paths.
Each 35-foot-tall structure comprises two offset wings flanking a central, glass-faced lobby to break up the building mass. In the lobby, both the concrete courtyard paving and metal curves of the building exterior extend through the two-story space to create a sculptural portal connected to the outdoors - described the architects.
Painted, recycled aluminum will clad the projecting roofs and deep overhangs of the building exteriors. These projecting planes will furthermore support outdoor balconies, offering vistas of the campus.
The overhangs will additionally serve to control solar heat gain by shading the building exteriors. The buildings will also feature deep horizontal sunshades, as well as solar-controlled skylights that augment the daylighting scheme to reduce the need for artificial illumination.
To achieve its goal of LEED-Platinum certification, the project will incorporate several other sustainable elements, such as high-efficiency mechanical and electrical systems, solar photovoltaic power generation, recycling of construction waste, locally sourced materials, and bioswales landscaped with native plants.
Anticipated completion of the project is set for 2017.
News via Form4 Architecture.
