“Agreement on a few rules give rise to extraordinarily complex games. Chess is defined by fewer than two dozen rules, but humankind continues to find new possibilities in the game after hundred years of intensive study. As we seeds, much comes from little.”
From the twelfth floor of the Shabet tower on Herbert Samuel St. it is impossible to distinguish the sky from the sea. In particular, during stormy days, the choppy waves and the whitish foams confuse with the steams of the “complex, impure and non-shaped set” of clouds’ world.
Location
Tel Aviv
Total floor area
250 m2
N. of floors
1
“Agreement on a few rules give rise to extraordinarily complex games. Chess is defined by fewer than two dozen rules, but humankind continues to find new possibilities in the game after hundred years of intensive study. As we seeds, much comes from little.”(1)
From the twelfth floor of the Textile House Complex on Herbert Samuel St., it is impossible to distinguish the sky from the sea. In particular, during stormy days, the choppy waves and the whitish foams confuse with the steams of the “complex, impure and non-shaped set”(2) of clouds’ world.
The idea for this second project for the offices of PRS company was born from two factors. The first one is the context: the chase between the sky and sea surfaces, which can be seen continuously from this floor. Nature’s space and time dimensions that we are always interested in analyzing through architectural structures. The second factor was the necessity to manage to express the company’s identity and its strong innovative spirit. We chose an experiential strategy in order to create an emotional involvement, through the use of “geo-cell”, one of the main products of the company, and its expressive capability.
Contrary to the previous project we realized for PRS, in this floor the area dedicated to offices is completely open. We built a ceiling-membrane-sky, modeled with the geo-cell net, capable both to adapt to the acoustic needs and to fit as technical support for the plant. In this way, it became a unique expressive object, in continuity and dialogue with the sea waves.
Different parameters were taken into consideration while using these net for the design of the ceiling-sky:
-the variation of the density of the material, which thanks to its flexibility can assume different degrees of transparency and visibility.
-the position and the different measures of the supports hooked to the ceiling, which creates variations of the shape.
-the position and the connection between the sections of geo-cell, which generate different shades of the visual density of the material.
In the middle of the space, the first meeting room rotated 28 degrees compared to the façade and composed of transparent panels, made of partially reflecting glass, creates a continuity with the sea view. The main meeting room is enclosed between transparent panels and faces the promontory of Jaffa and the promenade along the sea of Tel Aviv.
The workstations in the office are located on the perimeter of the open space and are interrupted by the relax-area. This is an island, composed of three levels of geo-cell, overlapping and filled with small white stones, where it is possible to lie to contemplate the landscape.
(1) John Henry Holland, Emergence: From Chaos to Order, Oxford Press, 1998, p. 1
(2) Gilles Clement, Nuvole, deriveApprodi, 2011, p. 11
Location
Tel Aviv
Total floor area
250 m2
N. of floors
1
