framing
A Heavy Timber Office Building E 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA
Design Studio Project Fall 2019
This project aims to design a heavy timber office building that is sustainable in its materiality. The goal of my project is to capture the essence of traditional Chinese/Japanese style wood architecture through the use of joinery details. The stacking of perpendicular wood members creates a design language that can generate effective beam and column systems as well as the expressive moments of the double-height spaces. The special moments generated by the stair-shaped stacking beams are not only meant to create ceremonial pathways but also to produce double-height gathering spaces.
The reminiscent feelings evoked by traditional structures are achieved through repetitions of the post and lintel systems and framed within a modern envelope. The stairs create double-height spaces and become ceilings that resemble the aesthetics of traditional roof structures.
The façade combines a curtain wall with perforated metal screens which creates visual transparency and provides shading at the same time.
