PISCHOFF BUILDING

Oakland, California

1990

The 25,000-square-foot warehouse space spreads out over one floor, with natural light flooding in from a saw-tooth roof.  As is typical in warehouse facilities, the existing front office area had been enclosed and separated from the rest of the building, segregating the company functions and interrupting the flow of production.  The goal was to architecturally integrate the office space with the shop space, both visually and functionally. Linking devices include large glass windows and off-the-shelf strip fluorescent light fixtures suspended in rows throughout.  Rip-stop nylon sail fabric is used as a translucent entry screen; galvanized sheet metal walls set off the executive office and conference room.  Incorporating a steel seismic frame allowed for a dramatic glazed opening to be made out of a former truck dock.

Jennings plans rooms which express the purpose of their existence and create a basis for identification.  The set of rooms here is exciting, their design open and convincing.

The lighting itself is striking.  Neon tubes have been applied so cleverly as to develop an aesthetic quality of their own and to lend tension to the simple design concept.

DBZ (Germany) 10/92