a brief informative case study on some famous offices which connected their interiors with the nature in some outstanding ways

1. Psychological Design – Case Study
Kawther- Azra

2. Index
• Renovation Project- A.S.R headquarters
– Design changes and features
– Sustainability
• Ford foundation building
– Concept and planning
– Materials and construction
– Psychological effect on occupants
• SelgasCano office in the woods
– Concept and planning
– Materials and construction
– Psychological effect on occupants
• References

3. Openings
Psychological
aspects of
design
Greening
indoor
spaces
color
Natural
materials
Creating
open
space

4. “Look deep into nature, and then you will
understand everything better.”
– Albert Einstein

5. Renovation project- A.S.R head quarters
ASR is an insurance company which was
established in 1997, Netherlands. The
headquarter building was formed in
1970s, with an area of 86000 sq. meters.
This Dutch outdated office was
renovated by the architecture company
Team V Architectuur 2015. they have
amazingly transformed the look and
function of the whole building, making it
a contemporary workspace with lots of
daylighting, indoor gardens and atria.
This design was awarded BREEAM-NL
excellent for sustainability.

7. Design changes and features
• Floors have been cut away to create voids, which creates
a very attractive open workspace, which used to be dark
and gloomy closed spaces.
• The whole building is divided into three sections, with
three different color schemes – green, yellow and purple
for ease of coordination. These colors are reflected on
the wall and floor finishes and even in the choice of the
plants in gardens and roof terraces.
• Connection to nature is made with winter gardens,
which are bright open spaces with mature trees laid out
between the exterior and interior façade.
• The placement of windows varies in each floor to give
the building a layered appearance.

8. Old vs New

9. Design changes and features
• The slanting façades ensure reflected daylight reach far into
the building and optimum movement of ventilation air
through the cavity. The light-weight facade cladding can be
mounted easily, without creating noise.
• The concept of workspace is based on flexibility,
collaboration and casual meetings. There is a diversity of
workplaces, such as enclosed spaces for intense work,
private spaces, comfortable lounge areas for informal
meetings and flexible tables for collaborative work.
• The public area consists of a coffee bar, brasserie,
conference center, work lounge and restaurant which
provide different and interesting work environments.

11. Sustainability
• The new climate façade with double glass walls, which also act as a cavity, plays a key
role in energy savings by providing abundance of light, and heath-cold storing energy
consumption has been reduced by over 50%.
• High frequency lighting, occupancy detector, ventilation via climate ceilings, PV panels
on the roofs, water-efficient toilets and taps, the reuse of office furniture and floor
coverings, all contribute to the level of comfort and sustainability required by BREEAM-
NL Excellent.
• The use all materials has been kept to a minimum by reusing and recycling 23,000 tones
of waste materials. Even the occupants sit on repaired chairs from the old office.
• During construction 98% of the demolition waste was recycled. For example, concrete
rubble has been used to lay out bicycle tracks.
• 1,200 solar panels have been placed on the roof to generate electricity.
• They have introduced birdhouses, roof gardens and beehives contribute to the local
ecological structure.

14. Ford foundation building
The Ford Foundation building is located in
Manhattan, New York, being one of its kind which
was designed by the architect Roche and his assistant
Dinkeloo. It is unique because they have used the site
space very beautiful and sustainable way.
Rather than creating offices all over the space leading
to shorter building, they designed a small portion of
the space with offices and the rest is occupied by an
interior garden with greenhouse-like atrium which is
visible from all the eleven floors of the building.

15. Concept and planning
The designers, Roche and Dinkeloo wanted to create
the feel of a community between the occupants, so
the offices in each floor is arranged in C shape, letting
the people to see each other over the garden along
with natural light provided by the skylight above.
The lower offices are stepped inward to make terrace
like space accessible from the floor above through
glass sliding doors. While coworkers are aware of each
other by the glass facades, the individual offices inside
offers privacy and anonymity to its occupants.

16. Concept and planning
Facing the huge garden, the two exterior faces of the building are made with
glazed walls, allowing the occupants to connect with the outside view of the
Tudor City. This provides aesthetical view for the people on the streets too,
along with abundance of sunlight for the trees.

18. Materials and construction
Inspired from bridge and highway construction, the building was made by
two main materials, weathered steel and load bearing concrete. The
designer made the perfect uses of the steel and concrete. The roof is
made of steel trusses with inlaid glass creating a skylight. The structural
beams are cladded by purple-gray hued granite.
The granite’s hue mixed with the reddish- brown tint from weathered
steel forms a color which blends with the surrounding buildings as well.
The interior industrial material.
Ten-story glazed walls are set back from the columns, dissolving the
distinction between interior and exterior. This glass is a crucial element,
reflecting modernist transparency and the specific visual experiences that
Roche intended to create a moral structure to the building.

20. Psychological effect on occupants
The building space contains a very complicated social diagram, meant to create
occasional interactions between employee and employee, visitor and employee, and
visitor and foundation.
The first experience is created when the occupant looks out from his/her window,
seeing the perfectly frown huge vegetation with the town’s view further. Following
to this experience, a worker might notice that he can see into another person’s office
– and that another person can see into hers. This gives a feeling of connection
through nature, through a city.
People in the conference rooms, planning meetings and courting donors, are able to
view almost half of the employees simply by looking out of the window. In a basic
eleven story building, this will be an impossible task. This will improve productivity
by creating awareness of office activities and from the view of nature and sunlight.

23. SelgasCano- office in the woods
It is an architecture office situated in the
woods of Madrid, designed by the
architecture firm SilgasCano, whose founders
are Jose Selgas and Lucia Cano. The office is
half sunken in the ground, in middle of the
beautiful Spanish woods, shaped like
streamline and encapsulated in curved glass
which is a sustainable design for getting
natural ventilation and lighting as well as the
psychological aesthetics.

24. Concept and planning
The office is in the form of an aerodynamic tube like
the ones used for skateboarding, with a long window
on one wall that extends into part of the ceiling. This
acts as both window and partial skylight. This design
technique eliminates the whole space with sufficient
lighting during the day, eliminating the need for
artificial lights.
Half office is sunken into the earth, which provides an
excellent degree of insulation. When it is summer in
Spain, this design provides excellent insulation,
naturally cooling the office without any air conditioner.

26. Materials and construction
• The north side wall window/skylight is made up of 20mm thick acrylic surface.
• The south side opaque wall is constructed from a 110mm thick fiber-glass and polyester
sandwich which is insulated and offers shade from direct sunlight.
• There is a hinged opening at one end of the building which is attached by pulley
mechanism. It allows varying degrees of natural ventilation.
• A stone staircase leads down into the office, which has solid lower walls made up of brick.

27. Psychological effect on occupants
The north-facing window is lined with the employee’s desks,
giving them an eye-level view of the forest floor. The office is
situated in the middle of a natural forest, with natural habitats
roaming around, falling leaves, wind or rain around them, creating
an amazing and unique environment to work. Employees can also
look up into the tree boughs and sky through the curved skylight
part of the office. Its like their own world in the midst of the wild.
The color scheme of yellow, white and lime green is also very
vibrant and energetic, perfectly contrasting with the soothing
outside nature.

30. References
• http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Ford_Foundation_Building.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Foundation_Building#External_links
• http://www.archdaily.com/436653/ad-classics-the-ford-foundation-kevin-roche-john-dinkeloo-and-
associates
• http://www.ucreative.com/inspiration/you-be-inspired-10-nature-inspired-architectural-designs/
• http://inhabitat.com/incredible-glass-office-gives-employees-a-bugs-eye-view-of-the-forest-floor/
• http://www.archello.com/en/project/asr-headquarters
• https://www.deerns.com/about-deerns/news/sustainable-renovation-of-a-s-r-head-office-awarded-
breeam-nl-excellent?news_id=938