5806 Lawton
Avenue,
Oakland, CA 94618
510.547.4199 vce
510.653.3763 fax
L+U@coolshadow.com
GAP Corporate Campus |
GAP
Corporate Campus
| Awards Business Week/Architectural Record Design Award, 1998 Savings By Design Award, 2000 AIA Washington Chapter, Award of Excellence, 2000 |
| ![]() Plan of 901 Cherry showing the three atria |
| Located in San Bruno, south of San Francisco, this GAP Corporate Campus building was completed in 1997. The 901 Cherry building consists of three connected office "bays" and attached conference, recreation and cafe spaces which total 195,000 square feet and house 500 employees. In this design, the architects challenged the norm of deep office plates and dark tinted glass which keep the inside and the outside separate. William McDonough describes the design intention: "We believe people want to feel like theyÕve spent the day outdoors in a beautiful place, so weÕve designed a building full of daylight and fresh air to invigorate the mind, body and spirit." The building complex is at least 30 per cent more energy-efficient than required by California law, making it one of the nation's most energy efficient commercial buildings. We assisted the design team in the daylighting design, shading designs, glazing alternatives and lighting control strategies. Physical models under both the natural sky and the mirror-box sky simulator at UC Berkeley were used to evaluate illumination levels and visual comfort in the offices and atria. The video equipped heliodon at the Pacific Energy Center was used to establish patterns of sun penetration under a number of design scenarios. These studies helped to design and fine tune the performance of daylighting in the building, thereby reducing the use of electrical lighting and associated cooling loads and increasing the quality of the workplace. Each of the three bays of offices and workstations is built around a two-story, landscaped atrium that collects the associated offices and workspaces into an identifiable community with a daylighted center. Popped up through the roof of each atrium is a light monitor with clerestories oriented to the northwest and southeast. A curved reflector redirects daylight into the open office workspace. At nearly 50 feet in height and containing open staircases for easy circulation between the two floors, the center space is kept light with exposed white ceilings and light finishes. Direct sun penetration through these monitors has caused some problems during winter months, as a result of the reduction in the length of the overhangs and the elimination of light shelves originally included in the design. Shades have been installed as an interim solution and a revisiting of the monitor shading design is part of a Phase II project for the Corporate Campus overall. |
Large clerestories on the bay ends over the private offices face northeast and southwest, adding significantly to the overall illumination levels. Daylight from these clerestories is reflected up from the office ceilings to the white curved ceiling of the bay. The high performance spectrally selective glazing has a 70% visible transmission for daylight and a 0.42 Shading coefficient for solar gain. In the private offices on the perimeter, the windows are operable and have individually controlled mechanized shades. The overall office lighting by Peerless is indirect and controlled with photosensors to respond to exterior illumination levels. Under-floor air supply allows individual controls and enable night cooling of the building mass to reduce air conditioning energies. The open office system is custom designed with very light wood finishes and upper panels of translucent glass on all privacy screens to allow better diffusion of daylight throughout the office bay. All interior wood and wood veneer in the building was harvested from certified, sustainably managed forests. Materials used throughout the offices are low-toxicity . The undulating roof of the complex is sod, planted with native grasses and wildflowers. The roof absorbs storm water runoff and provides thermal isolation for the interior which is difficult to match with standard insulating products.
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| Heliodon
study indicating direct sun ![]() |
![]() Heliodon study showing model interior |