INTERSTICE Architects Dynamic Facade San Francisco from INTERSTICE Architects on Vimeo.

Designed for Designers

The INTERSTICE Architects office, located in the heart of San Francisco’s Lower Polk neighborhood, is a bright and spacious studio that well suits a busy architecture firm’s array of needs. A distinctive fold-out wood-and-aluminum dynamic facade is both a lockable security measure while providing a warm textural element to the building, which can be opened to reveal an open studio space with ample collaborative workstations. An open-roof glass conference room dominates the space, providing a more private space for meetings and group collaborations from designers’ individual desks at the far end of the office. A myriad of elements many self constructed blend and merge to create a functional and manipulatable office space for a team of architectural and landscape designers. 

Glimpse from the Street

The façade of the office is characterized by a large window, looking out onto a bustling Sutter Street. INTERSTICE designed , built and installed a screen rescripting Bosch components to create a highly customized dynamic screen system. The wood-paneled screen module slides to reveal the front entrance, while another  module pneumatically lifts up like an awning over the sidewalk, offering the passersby a glimpse into the studio. The lower modules fold down into single and larger benches, providing ample seating to anyone who wishes to enjoy a respite. The design of the façade encapsulates the idea of a mixing moment between public and private use: “brackish” element, where worlds intersect and exchanges occur. As a security screen, it offers protection—as a sort of gate—while it simultaneously and playfully engages the street—by folding out and down to become a shelter and bench.

 

Floating Conference Room

Central to the space is the independent structure of the conference room, a modular kit of parts rebuilt at this location from the firm’s previous office in the Mission District. The conference room is a simple, central volume of glowing salvaged glass. The 10-by-5-foot sheets of etched glass, sourced locally from an architectural salvage yard, clad a rigid wood frame that supports an arsenal of conference room accessories including a large table, screen, and whiteboards. The space is equipped to display any number of 4’ x 8’ graphic boards which can be mounted or dismounted effortlessly. The delicate aesthetic of the crystalline structure stands in concert with the bright airiness of the office as a whole where an interior forest of trees provide fresh oxygen and dappled light.

Made for Collaboration

The office interior features high ceilings and skylights which provide ample natural light for the studio, while the open work plan fosters an atmosphere of creativity, collaboration, and productivity. The atrium of the firm consists of customized modular workstations where spacious desks are quickly overtaken by architectural drawing sets. Throughout the space, large ficus and fish tail palm trees grow up through the desks towards the ceiling and sky; lights, adding a touch of bright green color and life. The floors are hot rolled steel plates, their natural heat blue finish adding a rich tonal variation that gives off an iridescent quality. A large customized bookshelf separates the office from the model workshop space, and brightly colored kitchen and bathroom area, above which sits the mezzanine, overlooking the studio with additional workstations and a breakaway worktable for a more expanded design area.

 

• Commercial