1. Edmunds.com headquarters, Santa Monica, California
Since the company is focused on the car shopping experience, of course our design [honored with two inaugural American Architecture Prizes] came from the automobile and the highway—both Los Angeles landmarks in their own right. The space is meant to elicit movement through the fluid shapemaking of the 3D interior envelope, including linear recessed cove lighting, floor graphics (resembling painted roadway signs), and as many car parts and whole cars that we could find places for.
Above the reception desk is a 25-foot-diameter opening in the floor above, and rotating within this void are two corvettes—wheel to wheel—the 2016 upside down and the 1966 right-side up. The assemblage rotates once a minute and weighs a few pounds (6,000).
Photography by Benny Chan, Fotoworks
2. Luxelake Yacht Club Chengdu, China
Having seen the building evolve during construction, the opportunity to take on the interior was a full-circle [experience]. Knowing the building layout, we proceeded to organize the interior program elements along the main linear axis, knitting the concept of several great yachts docking side by side along a main boardwalk.
Following the essence of nautical design, we [chose] light colors and reflective surfaces—lacquered high-gloss woods, mirror-polished stainless steel detailing, backlit white onyx, and leather-wrapped details—focusing the guest’s experience on the water views immediately outside. The main formal dining room features over 2,500 custom-blown, chromed-glass suspended fish, all ‘swimming’ across the ceiling toward the lake.
3. Ribbon Residence Hangzhou, China
Hangzhou is one of the most incredibly beautiful areas. It sits next to a historic area around West Lake, an inspiration of Chinese garden design for centuries. Nestled on the upper floors of the mixed-use, live-work, and social-networking community hub is a completely separate 50-key luxury boutique hotel, accessed via a discrete entrance. It is being implemented as a carbon-neutral test project (with two other adjacent commercial properties) along what is planned to be a new mixed-use, transportation corridor.
Our proposed design, like a topographic map of the lake edge seen in plan, steps back in elevation to reveal level upon level upon level—each in familiar unison with the next—allowing the terraced façade to provide outdoor living space at each floor.
