Surber Barber Choate & Hertlein

Primal Screen

Atlanta, Georgia

The owner desired to convert a seedy, low-slung, 1940's-era warehouse into an essentially open office environment that would express and encourage the creativity of its artist-inhabitants. As a starting point, the owner and Surber Barber Choate & Hertlein Architects were intrigued by an essay examining Jane Jacobs' urban theory and its possible application to the design of an office environment. With that in mind, the plan was developed around the idea of "streets" and "avenues" with purposeful variation of hierarchy and scale, and intentional "accidents". Spatial variety resulted as self-contained forms were inserted into the office grid. Such objects include: a wooden box as the video-editing suite, a translucent elliptical conference room floating in a pool of river rocks, a bright red stucco curved wall, and a wall in the exaggerated shape of a diving board. The central "park" common areas were raised on a platform to provide further variety. Bright colors were used to reflect the playful nature of cartoon animation, contrasting with the exposed structural elements and infrastructure of the existing building.

In addition to painted drywall, the palette of materials includes maple flooring (used as a wall finish), tinted stucco, polycarbonate panels, suspended cypress planks, acid-blackened steel, and sandblasted glass.

Client: Primal Screen

Completion: 2002

Awards:
   Awards: Georgia AIA Award of Excellence 2004

All images © Phillip Spears