Cambridge, Mass.
Anmahian Winton Architects

Photography © Peter Vanderwarker Photographs

Funky warehouse buildings become a new high-tech home

Program: One of the largest European mobile phone companies, Orange Innovations, based in the U.K., needed to create an innovation center for the firm's entry into the U.S. market. They sought to be located near Harvard and MIT, in Massachusetts, a vortex of America's technology research.
An inviting office environment was required that would appeal to the surrounding entrepreneurial community, with a theme of flexibility reflecting
the inherent qualities of the changing landscape of technology companies.

Solution: The architects transformed five existing one-story warehouse buildings separated by narrow alleyways into a single volume consisting of distinct precincts. The alleyways became glass atria planted with bamboo that provide circulation and weave the three primary programmatic elements of the building together—private office space, open areas for brainstorming, and cooperative spaces that are flexible and semiprivate. Workstations can be shape-shifted with ease, and a mobile power grid on the ceiling ensures movable technology wiring for easy change of landscape. The low-key combination of natural materials, abundant light peeking in from the glass-enclosed alleyways, and the human scale of the facility have all delighted employees and potential clients alike.

For more images please see the November 2003 issue or Architectural Record.

The Winners: Orange Innovations | Hotel Habita | Sekii Ladies Clinic | Start-Up Offices | Inn at Price Tower | Darwin Centre | Apple SoHo | Stealth/Ogilvy | Gannett/USA Today Corporate Headquarters | ImageNet

The Finalists: Automated Trading Desk Technology Campus | Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery | University of Washington | Herman Miller MarketPlace | Beacon Communications Office | New Academic Complex, Baruch College, CUNY | Mott Children's Center

Unbuilt Projects: Great Harbor Design Center

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