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Architects: PAK Architects
- Area: 150 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Hoang Le
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Lead Architects: Nguyen Thanh Phuong
Text description provided by the architects. The office is where we spend 1/3 of the day working, learning, and socializing. Therefore, creating an office with a unique, scientific design that contains positive emotions and inspires inspiration and work motivation is necessary. And more critically, when this is an office for a young design unit, "PAK architects." PAK Office is a renovation project in Hanoi with two floors in a relatively small building having 7-storey, each floor having an area of about 80m2. Initially, the two floors were leased independently of each other. The main problems to be solved when designing are common problems in Vietnam's small-scale office designing connectivity and tropical space.
We want to create an open and connected space between the two floors and, simultaneously, make the most of the natural light from the façade. So, a part of the 2nd floor is demolished, forming a space 5 meters high floor clearance at the center of the office, expanding and linking the view of employees inside; at the same time, natural light can penetrate deep into the space. Then the steel ladder systems, bookshelves, and model shelves are added to create traffic links between floors; both are visual highlights. Shelves of architectural models are a place to save the research and design process results and the main decorative element for the space.
The office's façade faces Southeast and is designed using the double skin method with glass tiles and trees to control the amount of direct light entering the building while creating soft scattered light throughout the space. The double skin method also reduces the use of air conditioners in tropical climates in Vietnam. Glass tiles also create exciting light effects that change with each hour of the day. From an outside perspective, an extensive array of glass tiles also makes a visual identity for the office itself.
Loggia is maximized in terms of the area to plant trees; it can be seen anywhere in the office and is a place to relax and rest members, where they meet and talk outside working hours. Since then, it has increased productivity and created a spiritual connection between members in the office. As one of the examples of small office design solutions in Vietnam, the PAK office provides a space to increase connectivity and creativity among office members while also solving tropical problems in Vietnam. We aim for a sustainable office in the future.
