On a High

I was looking at serveral precedences and recognised a similarity. Which is the use of very high volume spaces. I am unsure of the pshychological effects of such spaces. But I believe it has something to do with the negative reaction to being in a confined space.

I am also unsure of the reason behind it. Whether such design is deliberate or a result of an existing structure eg. an existing warehouse building or industrial building that was later converted to a studio space.

Personally, I feel working in a double volume environment a lot more comfortable. However, it might take away a bit of the intimacy of the environment. So here are just some pictures of studios which I found with high volume spaces.

Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy (Image from a+u)

Ingenhoven Architects, Dusseldorf, Germany

Alsop Architects, London, UK

There are many more examples of such spaces being used. Others include Foreign Office Architects (London, UK) and Daniel Libeskind studio which combined different volume heights together for different workspaces, depending on a certain hierachy.

My favourite out of all the examples is the Renzo Piano Buildings workshop (picture above). The space is so full of warmth when bathed in sunlight (then again, this might not be the climatic direction we will want to head towards) But the space looks very inviting compared to the stark white and clinical environments in most other studios.

My favourite image was actually shown to me by Dawn who provided me these images from the a+u magazine. The organisation and the use of the space makes it unlike any regular office with computers everywhere but really reflects the purpose of the space.

Renzo Piano

-andrea