The office entry is intentionally dark and transitory. One must pass through the first wood block to enter into the office proper.

sg_office

The sg_office serves as both workshop and workplace—a testing ground for materiality and detail, and a space where clients, consultants, and builders gather around the design process. The interior becomes an architectural essay in miniature, translating the firm’s philosophies into built form.

A wood service block separates the 'working' space from the 'meeting space'.

Previously a benign room of cheap acoustic ceiling panels and low-quality commercial carpet, the space was selected for its abundant windows and central location within Penticton’s downtown. The design hinged on removing everything that wasn’t essential, painting what was left a matte black to fade it into the background, and introducing new elements within the space that became the new focal points.

The matte black ceiling expands the understanding of height in the room and allows the wood panels to float in mid air.
The backside of the wood block provides service to the office: storage below the counter and printing above.

Stereotomic wood volumes organize the plan into three zones: entry, collaboration, and focused work. These blocks store, divide, and frame, creating shifts of compression and release. Along the darkened perimeter, thin ribbon-like panels hover from the walls, offering surfaces for display while softening acoustics.

Natural light was paramount to the office culture and design. Wrap around windows were the starting point of the renovation - everything else was flexible.
Pin-up space is an opportunity to share and collaborate within the office as well as show visitors what we are working on and how we like to work.

The office is less a renovation than a study in attention: a demonstration of how to accept existing conditions and redirect focus. Here, the void of the original room becomes a container, and the newly crafted elements define both the space and the practice within it.

Interior of an architecture office with large window, plywood walls with design photos, and a desk with a computer monitor.