SEEING IS EXPERIENCING
VEILED HQ
Type: exterior & interior | Location: Hobart, Tasmania, Australia | Status: completed | Completion time: 4 weeks
Client: Edition Office
Visualization: CUUB studio
Located in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, the project is encountered as a singular entity within its city site, an enigmatic edifice within the public realm.
The upper floors are shrouded in a continuous custom-made matt black ceramic screen, each floor stepping out over the last, with the screens cascading down with the character of a dark mineral curtain. This elemental materiality, clarified earth, constructed with immense precision defines the clear identity and presence of the company without betraying its mystery and inner workings.
During daylight hours, the ceramic screen façade passively shades and diffuses the natural sunlight, significantly reducing the heat load within.
When the sun sets the glow of activity appears behind the screen, revealing the mass and form of the social spaces within.
Emerging up to the rooftop terrace, the project takes on the low coastal scrub landscape and the natural stone surface of Tasmania’s rugged coastal edge. This elevated terrace provides a large space for social connection and mental rest, with views over the harbor and the Derwent River.
At ground level a tall stainless-steel curtain weaves behind a concrete colonnade, obscuring the activity within. When passed through, the entry to the building reveals a forest residing within the heart of the site, with shafts of soft natural daylight piercing down to the tree ferns, moss, and natural rock seating within a large courtyard garden.
This forested space distills the presence of Tasmania’s wilderness, establishing a pocket of intense natural immersion within the heart of the project. This internal ecology is the conceptual anchor to the site, providing a sense of connection and recalibration to all spaces within the building.
The soft and diffused natural daylight that washes into the working spaces through the perimeter screen is balanced by the soft sheltered light within the tree canopies of the inner forest. In addition, a universal field of artificial lighting emanating from within the soft black stained ceiling rafters eliminates glare while delivering full-spectrum lighting that can modulate its colour temperature throughout the day and within differing work environment zones to ensure the best environments for both focus and wellbeing.
The dining hall, extending outwards from the inner forest carries the smooth natural cobblestone floor of the exterior across the entire ground plane. Rising directly above the dining hall is the sculptural undercroft of the auditorium, with natural daylight washing down around the stepped concrete form through the black ceramic screens above.
The auditorium wraps around an entirely active digital presentation wall, taking on the vertical surface of the built form as the screen itself. A large break-out space is contained within the rear of the auditorium, where curtains can be drawn back allowing a social environment to open up behind the ceramic screened glazing with natural daylight and views opening up to the harbor.
Description provided by architects.
COOPERATION
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