Empathetic Workplace

Architecture

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Year: 2020
Location: Portland, OR
University of Oregon
Type: Architecture Studio

Scope: 3D modeling, rendering, flythrough video, documentation

Software: Adobe CC, Revit, Rhinoceros 3D, Grasshopper, Cinema 4D, Octane, Vray

Empathetic Workplace proposes a blueprint for office design interventions with sensitivity to mental health following extended isolation. This project learns from building types practiced in engaging with life's hardships, in order to create human-centered spaces filtered through an empathetic lens.

Single-family housing; the form is a repeated module of modified pitched roofs that dissolves the monolithic office type into a recognizable human scale. The organization of each module follows that of a typical western single-family home with the most public spaces on the ground floor and private spaces at the top allowing for moments of retreat and solitude.

Healthcare; central green spaces have become the standard for contemporary healthcare design. Access to nature promotes a sense of overall wellbeing and improved stress management. The green corridor cuts the module to reveal a dense planting of native species.

The project introduces moments of solitude at every level with single occupant balconies, atriums, and a destination “relaxation station” where the building meets the sky, to accompany equally ample opportunities for social interaction. The modular massing is interrupted by a central terraced void acting as a point of orientation for gathering spaces, while moments of retreat are pinpoints scattered throughout and are legible in the playful expression of the facade.

The primary purpose of this project is to center sensitivity toward office workers that may be struggling to socially reintegrate post-quarantine. The building responds to that objective by puncturing each level with interior and exterior micro-spaces for solitude that do not disrupt the typical office program.

On a broader scale the program itself becomes more focused around retreat as the user ascends into the peaks of the building with the uppermost level hosting several serenity rooms where employees can tend to their needs.