This project is a partial renovation of an existing building for a tax preparation and accounting office. The most extensively modified areas were devoted to the public, and the work was executed in a gesture of ‘lining’ – with both material and with light.
A new, extensively glazed entry wall invites natural daylight. Visitors enter into the reception volume lined in clear-sealed and blind-fastened MDF panels. A bespoke reception desk of MDF exists centered in the composition of the room. The wall panels surround the room and connect visually to the conference area and the passage to the private offices beyond. These panels conceal an integrated strip of LED light that washes softly upon the ceiling and crisply segregates lining from vessel. An area of aubergine-toned plank cork composes the seating, a contemporary play on the traditional ‘area rug’ arrangement typology.
The project employs an economically minded material palette (painted and smoothed existing walls, painted existing acoustic ceilings) with an emphasis on a clean visual integration of systems. An example, centered lighting switch plates exist within subtly widened strike jam trim molding around all interior doors.