This three-story office building was commissioned by a group of emergency medical physicians to provide a location for their third urgent care facility, to offer tenant space for other medical professionals, and to establish a larger and more progressive corporate identity. Shaping the design are multiple references and connections to the natural environment. Weathered copper leaves shade volumes anchored to a masonry outcropping. A grove of steel trees support a mahogany canopy and shelter a vertical circulation hive. Daylight fills hallways that follow a central utility branch. Rainwater is diverted through copper capillaries, along rain chains, and back to the earth. A rooftop terrace hosts outdoor functions and offers a breath of fresh air.

 

2006 AIA North Carolina Honor Award for Design

 

Jury Comments:

 

"This scheme breaks up the traditional box with interesting detailing of the facade. There appears to be a great deal of sensitivity not only to the users of the building, but also to the placement of the building on the site. Organic references read through by the use of the copper and masonry material selections, as well as the "tree trunk references" both in the articulation of the vertical glass elements and the entrance canopy columns.

 

Project developed by Hunter Coffey while with MRKA