Pricefx’s Prague Offices by CollColl Draws Inspo from Pixels

For the Prague office of Pricefx, the standard workplace cubicle just wouldn’t do. The MO of the global software company, its products helping businesses price goods and services, is predicated on flux: The number and type of clients, which range from newly hatched start-ups to long-established corporations, shifts by the day and even the hour, requiring different spatial configurations intended to stimulate creative dialogue. It wanted smart, performative flex space that acts as a physical corollary to the dynamic digital environment in which its clients work and think on-screen.

In 2016, Pricefx hired CollColl—the interdisciplinary firm, its name a portmanteau of “collaborative collective,” founded by partner Krištof Hanzlík—to design an easily adaptable workplace on a half-floor of an open-plan office building. Hanzlík and his team mixed hot desks, coworking spaces, lounges, and open areas with phone-booth enclosures, offices, and small and large meeting rooms. Two years later, the architects expanded the footprint to occupy the full 9,000-square-foot floor. Then in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when the very concept of office space was in free fall, in a leap of optimism the company re-engaged CollColl to expand to the floor below. But with COVID putting the fundamental viability of such facilities into question, the mandate for flexibility was greater than ever.

CollColl Designs Pricefx’s Prague Offices for Flexibility

CollColl is a small, avant-garde group with a portfolio of both experimental and commercial projects. The success of the two previous efforts in shaping a flexible office landscape suggested the firm’s approach to the new lower level. “We wanted to create a fluid space in which there would be some separation but without distinct rooms,” says Hanzlík, who lead the team along with partner Šimon Kos. “Pricefx throws events for 30, 40, 50 attendees, and there’s a constant flow of people.”

A stainless-steel tubular slide linking the two floors spills into the new main entry, setting a tone that signals the importance of play in a workplace intended to stimulate creative ideas. The playfulness is reinforced by the reception desk, which not only doubles as a coffee bar but, thanks to a grid of LEDs behind its translucent solid-surfacing face, also functions as an interactive billboard on which pixelated images, including the company logo, appear. Nearby, a “gym” area equipped with a billiard table and a punching bag offers actual fun and games, further encouragement for informality and interplay.

The Office Includes an Expansive, Multi-Purpose Conference Room  

Perhaps the most challenging request on the client’s wish list was for a conference table that could seat 50 people during workshops—about twice the number possible previously. Rather than designing a single-purpose room, however, CollColl used seven pairs of glass double doors to partition off one end of the roughly rectangular floor, creating a building-spanning flex space with windows at both ends. This large light-filled area easily accommodates a row of six separate desks—each seating six—that extension leaves quickly turn into a continuous 50-person table: Close the doors and, voilà, an instant conference room. Folding wall panels allow the long space to be divided in half for smaller meetings.

CollColl Takes Inspiration from Video Games

The architects repeat the blocky landscape trope on the other side of the floor, next to the 50-person conference room, where the floor-to-ceiling geometric pile offers a welcome perch during meeting breaks or to people just wandering around with their laptops. And that points to yet another of the unique structures’ multiple functions, as reassuringly fixed landmarks in the floating world that constitutes Pricefx’s mutable workspace.

Walk Through the Pricefx Offices in Prague 

collcoll: adam kössler; libor mládek; mark kelly

sysloop: lighting consultant

av24: audiovisual consultant

olbert tomáš: woodwork

bauhanz: general engineer

capexus: general contractor

alfeko: custom slide (entrance)

molteni&c: armchairs (café)

Dupont: bar solid-surfacing

studio vono: chairs, barstools

Bosch: oven

XAL: pendant fixtures (meeting room)

lintex: whiteboard

vitra: tables, chairs (meeting room, conference room, av studio)

3deco: wall finishes (meeting room, conference room)

verti: glass partitions (meeting room, conference room)

av24: av equipment (av studio)

barrisol: concealed lighting (grotto)

common seating: ottomans (conference room)

freifrau manufaktur: swing seat

Interface: hard flooring, carpet tile

farrow & ball: paint

A Standout Gym Entices Employees Back to This Los Angeles Office

Design a post-pandemic workplace. That was architect Kristi Paulson’s first assignment for a confidential client when she landed at Behnisch Architekten. Fortunately for the client—and Behnisch—Paulson had already worked for the firm, when it had a previous L.A. studio from 1999 to 2011 (she was there from 2007 to 2011 as project partner). After a seven-year run at ZGF, she’s returned as partner-in-charge, her duties, in addition to designing the aforementioned workplace, also encompassing putting together a team and heading up the new L.A. operation with majority ownership—making the studio a woman-owned business.

The endeavor also marks Paulson’s first copiloting expedition with her husband, Behnisch director Daniel Poei. Further worth noting is when the client’s workplace project began: January 2020. Talk about timing. The confluence of the COVID-19 shutdown, working remotely, and a tight schedule from the client conveyed an unprecedented urgency. It meant two years of quasi 24/7 dedication. “We lived and breathed this project,” Paulson recalls. Fortunately again, the couple’s commitment and joint four decades of design experience is clearly evident in the end result: a bright four-story office that focuses on employee connectivity to each other and nature.

Design Considerations for This Post-Pandemic Workplace Centered on Collaboration and Wellness

The process began with the client introducing Paulson and Poei to its 110,000-square-foot “developer box,” Paulson notes, with a central elevator lobby. “Luckily, the owner opened the door for us to communicate directly with the sub-contractors, not just the contractors,” Poei says. “So we could get to the right people and figure things out.”

For the client’s small, low-density workforce valuing connection and operating on egalitarian premises, the Behnisch team’s first step entailed translating said connection to physical reality. Irregular cuts piercing three of the floor plates were means to that end, while simultaneously creating “an eccentrically shaped atrium on either side of the elevator lobby,” Paulson says. The resulting new territory sports “a diversity of spatial environments and visual connections between levels.” Moving up and down between them was crucial to collaborative success. She and Poei provided plenty of stunning options—make that eight of them. Four cantilevered, hairpin-turn staircases, a pair for each of the two atriums, connect the upper three levels, designated as office areas. Beyond, four spiral staircases, counter­acting the building’s rectangularity and its orthogonal layout, are two-story connectors. All are similarly constructed of matte black–painted steel cladding and white oak veneer for risers, treads, and inner balustrade paneling.

The Office Gym Features a 15-Foot-High Climbing Wall

As striking as the stairs are, there’s another showstopper standing front and center on the ground floor. A 10,000-square- foot gym adjoining reception is fully out in the open, not secreted away as is often the case. Outfitted with weight and cardio apparatus, it offers a plethora of choices for staffers. But their real challenge comes at the 15-foot-high bouldering wall, conceived to wrap around and conceal some of the existing building core elements. “Many of the buildings Behnisch designs worldwide have ground-floor amenities for connectivity. We think globally and share knowledge,” Paulson says, referring to projects by the firm’s other offices in Boston, Stuttgart, Munich, and Weimar. “Here, the client even provides its employees with free bouldering shoes.”

The Space Nods to Company Values With Custom Art Pieces 

Given Behnisch’s global reach, Paulson’s art program for the client, themed to geography, was a natural—literally and figuratively. Six continents, mapped out as massive oak wall sculptures, unfold two per floor across the office levels. Antarctica, the seventh, is on the ground floor. Meanwhile, conference rooms are named after rivers, like the Amazon, signifying movement and the flow of discussion, with cut-vinyl graphics for signage. The earthy theme continues with open lounge areas named after lakes to connote serenity. Which is, after all, an important vibe when venturing back to the office.

behnisch architekten: tony gonzalez; vera tian; laura fox; erik hegre; apurva ravi; victoria oakes

ockert und partner: graphics consultant

loisos + ubbelohde: lighting consultant

spmdesign: art consultant

john a. martin and associates: structural engineer

acco engineered systems: mechanical, plumbing contractor

morrow meadows: electrical contractor

spooner’s woodworks: millwork

washington iron works: metalwork

dpr construction: general contractor

diamond perforated metals: staircase panels (atrium)

california sheet metal: staircase soffits

Dinesen: wood flooring

stone source: stone flooring

Gubi: coffee tables (break-out areas, atrium)

knoll: chairs (break-out areas, lounge)

caesarstone: sectional tabletops (break-out areas)

spinneybeck: sectional leather

unisource solutions: custom sectionals (break-out areas, gym), parson’s table (meeting area), coffee table (lounge), benches (gym), table (conference room)

krc rock: custom rock bed (lounge)

sistemalux: pendant fixtures

Arup: Consultant for Fire/Life Safety, Acoustics and Audio Visual

blå station: chairs (lounge), sectionals (conference room), sofas (break-out area)

sorensen: chair upholstery (lounge), sectional upholstery (conference room)

Fritz Hansen: chairs (atrium)

walltopia: climbing wall panels (gym)

climbmat: mat

beta-calco: spotlights

mondo: floor­ing

carl hansen & søn: chairs (break-out area)

kvadrat: sofa fabric

leland: stools (meeting area, cafeteria)

eureka: pendant fixtures

daltile: wall tile (cafeteria)

concrete collaborative: flooring

Dupont: tabletop material

west coast industries: table bases

flor: carpet tile

Maharam: wall panels

conwed: wall system

schüco: glazing system

vibia: flush-mount fixtures

lumenpulse: downlights

CertainTeed: suspend ceiling grids

assa abloy: door pulls

guardian glass: glass

vista point: paint

Through Adaptive Reuse, Studio Alexander Fehre Turns Two Buildings into a New Facility in Germany

German corporations employ the highest number of engineers in all the European Union, which means they are constantly scouring the globe for qualified staff. So, how do they lure such specialized employees away from the competition? Perhaps by suggesting that, contrary to dour memes, the work life of an engineer in the Federal Republic is, quite possibly, fun.

“There’s a cliche of the German engineer toiling tirelessly away in a little chamber,” designer Alexander Fehre admits. Which is exactly the kind of work environment that the Studio Alexander Fehre principal and his team sought to avoid creating for Bosch Engineering GmbH, a developer of electronics systems for automotive and other applications, headquartered on a 108-acre campus in the southern German town of Abstatt.

Executives at BEG, a subsidiary of multinational technology giant Robert Bosch, asked Fehre to turn two of its buildings into a facility for special engineering projects that run for a few weeks or more. What they got was 48,000 square feet of flexible work space that combines the know-how of an established corporation with the dynamic vitality of a start-up, while infusing the whole with a spirit-lifting sense of play.

The two glass-and-steel buildings, which are about 330 feet apart, are both two stories high. One, known by its number, 204, is a new structure by WMA Architekten; the other, 301, was designed by SFP Architekten in 2004. Having previously conceived headquarters for another Bosch subsidiary, Fehre was already attuned to the conglomerate’s corporate culture and thus able to give the separate interiors a satisfying physical and psychological unity.

Splashes of yellow, shimmering metallic surfaces, warm honey-hued wood, and an abundance of car motifs feature throughout, lending the workplace an upbeat yet focused energy appealing to BEG’s high-profile clients ,such as Pagani, an Italian maker of limited-edition supercars that cost $3 million and more.

The combined facility, which brims with flexible furnishings, dozens of meeting-room iterations (in 17 enclosed spaces), and hybrid lounges (in airy, light-filled open areas on all four floors), provides satisfying transitions between a range of spaces, from studious work zones to convivial gathering spots. “The goal was an open, international feeling that points to very different projects from very different clients in Europe, America, Asia, and beyond,” Fehre explains.

The 2,600-square-foot lobby of 301, where an existing ceiling and some glass partitions were removed but the terrazzo flooring retained, now doubles as a showroom for products developed by Bosch, with a mini race car and a small helicopter among the projects on exhibit. MDF display plinths in reflective teal PVC and oak veneer are surfaces for both meet-and-greet beverages and gleaming engine parts. The dynamic zigzag geometry of the existing stair gains new prominence after its concrete stringers received a coat of glimmering blue-green lacquer. “It’s called flip-flop paint and comes from the car-tuning industry,” Fehre notes. “The color changes depending on which angle you look at it.”

Of all the enclosed meeting and work spaces, perhaps the most intriguing—and fun—is the computer lab, a 500-square-foot room with walls paneled in perforated aluminum that is backlit with LEDs. As staffers create desktop simulations of how BEG products might affect vehicle performance, they are surrounded by a dazzlingly pixelated environment that feels like being inside a supercomputer of the future. Or inside an engineer’s dream playroom of today.

studio alexander fehre: per hohberg; johanna pander; josse freund; magdalena paprotna; inna strokous

Baierl + demmelhuber: custom furniture workshop

jab anstoetz: rugs (community hub, hall)

gervasoni: chairs (hall)

heinrich schmid: paint (301 stair)

delta light: pendant fixture (yellow alcove)

westag & getalit: island laminate (kitchenette)

Haworth: chairs (computer lab)

thyssenkrupp: paneling

ecoline: leds

blå station: modular seating system, barstools

kvadrat: upholstery fabric

strähle: partition system

Dupont: solid surfacing

schöpfer: custom foil

alfred kiess: custom plinths

Interface: carpet tile

HOK Creates a Streamlined Office for a Freight Rail Operator in Atlanta

Transportation company Norfolk Southern Corporation traces its history back to 1827. But today it’s firmly rooted in the 21st century. Its subsidiary, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which oversees 19,000 miles of train tracks across 22 states, relies on technology to ensure safety, move goods efficiently, and reduce fuel emissions. But to be innovative and nimble—and attract top coders and engineers—NS needed to consolidate into a state-of-the-art headquarters. For decades, the corporation was based in Norfolk, Virginia, but its operations and technology teams were in Atlanta. In 2018, NS decided to bring everyone together, and HOK won the bid for the interiors of a new 750,000-square-foot complex in Midtown Atlanta’s Tech Square.

“The client didn’t want this to be treated like a train museum,” HOK firm-wide director of interiors Tom Polucci begins. “The existing buildings had beautiful models of locomotives, but NS said, ‘No, we’re more sophisticated than that.’” Betsy Nurse, HOK Atlanta’s director of interiors, adds: “Norfolk Southern sees itself as a tech company, not a railroad company.” The client envisioned a timeless concept where track workers and administrators alike would feel at home, with ample flex spaces to help the 3,000 on-site employees meet and collaborate. Robust amenities—fitness center, food hall, game room, childcare center—would help the company compete for talent against the likes of Google.

With architecture by Pickard Chilton, the ground-up headquarters is composed of two office towers (10 and 17 stories tall) joined by a five-story podium, which houses the lobby, amenities, and parking. HOK was at the table from the beginning and helped shape some of the architectural solutions, especially in the podium. The parking deck constrained the volume that would become the lobby, which could have been one to three stories high. “We studied different options and how the floors wove together,” Polucci says. The team landed on a 32-foot-high lobby that’s open to loungelike collaboration zones on the second floor and creates energy and buzz. This gave HOK the opportunity to create a monumental circular stair, the defining element of the interior.

The firm conceived of the stair as an iconic sculpture that would make the headquarters unique. Its ribbon of Corian-clad steel twists from the ground floor to the fourth, but the white-oak treads only begin on level two. In the lobby—detached from the stairs for security reasons—the Corian curls to wrap the reception desk. “Our goal was a pure form,” Polucci says. “The ribbon is consistent all the way up; it doesn’t flatten out at each floor.”

The stair grew out of the idea of movement, the guiding theme of the project. “Norfolk Southern was looking to celebrate the idea of motion in subtle, special ways,” Polucci notes. Outside the building’s entrance, a site-specific sculpture evokes tunnels and curved tracks in weathering steel. Nurse points out that the artwork is right outside the lobby, where you can see its relationship to the stair: “One is super refined, the other is raw.”

Artwork populates the interior, as well. In the ground-floor café, which is open to the public, there’s a 19-foot-high mural by HOK’s Experience Design team of a train on a track under a golden moon. Nearby, a painting by local artist María Korol hangs at the end of the main elevator lobby.

On the fourth floor, the stair terminates in front of the network operations center, which is like an air-traffic control room for trains. “From a visitor experience, it tells a story, because you land at the heart of the facility,” Nurse says. The room vividly channels the concept of motion with angular pendant fixtures and 2,000 feet of recessed LED strips that streak across the ceiling and down the walls. The center, which operates 24/7, also glows with blue lighting chosen to be soft on the eyes of dispatchers staring at screens all day.

Employees come together in the fifth-floor canteen that doubles as an all-hands meeting space. Designed like a food hall with six different vendors, it sits between two outdoor terraces; one has a retractable glass wall so the spaces can flow together. Totaling 55,000 square feet, the outdoor areas include another terrace by the gym on the floor below, where employees can do laps on circular walking paths. “Movement is also important to Norfolk Southern from a health and wellness perspective,” Nurse states. Glass-walled stairs in both towers further encourage physical activity.

While the array of amenities might seem like a post-pandemic bid to lure workers back to the office, the program had already been in place. The headquarters was mid-construction in March 2020, and Norfolk Southern stuck to the plan—even keeping a permanent desk for each employee. “That was a key tenant from the beginning,” Annie Adams, Norfolk Southern’s chief transformation officer, says. “It was important that everyone have a space to call their own.” The company, which had a phased move-in that began last fall and was completed in April, had always planned on accommodating hybrid work; meeting rooms are wired to connect remote participants seamlessly. Adams estimates that the headquarters is typically at 80 percent capacity. For her, the project’s success goes well beyond its anticipation of flexible work schedules. “The design reflects who we are and where we’re going,” she says. The future of freight rail, it seems, is right on track.

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HOK: danielle schmitt; kay sargent; diana stanisic; vivien chen; richard saunders; weronika cichosz; francesca meola; crystal latham; valerie roosma; irina sai; erin ezell; emily payne; bethany foss; claire pellettiere; matt mcinerney

HKS: architect of record

OJB: landscape consultant

HOK Experience Design: custom graphics

one lux studio: lighting con­sultant

uzun + case: structural engineer

integral consulting: mep

onsite woodwork corporation: custom fabrication workshop

hitt: general contractor

masland carpets: rug (lobby)

hbf: sofa (lobby), chairs (café)

luum: sofa upholstery (lobby), chair fabric (lounge)

shaw contract: lvt (break room); rugs (break room, lounge), carpet tile (daycare)

Courtesy of Davis Furniture: tables (break room)

jamie stern design: custom banquettes

pollack: banquette upholstery

mortensen woodwork: custom screens (lounge)

curry sawmill co.: custom table

Andreu World: chairs (lounge, café)

Holly Hunt: chair (reception)

art & associates: custom light fixtures (gym entry), custom wallcovering (gym)

wolf-gordon: wallcovering (gym entry)

Bentley Mills: carpet tile (conference center)

russ bassett: workstation (operations center)

lambert & fils: pendant fixtures (café)

nydree floor­ing: floor tile (canteen)

martin brattrud: tables

sandler seating: stools

ton: chairs

nanawall: folding glass wall

atomic 50: ceiling panels (game room)

flor: carpet tile

CB2: ceiling fixtures

hightower: red chairs

ofs: ping pong table

big ass fans: fans (gym)

pliteq: floor tile

flos: track fixtures (daycare)

ef contract: lvt

Dupont: corian

basaltite: stone flooring

kährs: wood flooring

axis lighting; genled brands; hubbell; led linear; 3g lighting; usai lighting: lighting

decoustics; ritz acoustics; usg: acoustical ceilings

benjamin moore & co.: paint

The Bor̆islavka Center by Aulík Fišer Architekti Reflects Prague’s History

Evropská, a major thoroughfare linking central Prague to the main airport, has seen a lot of development—corporate headquarters and other imposing buildings—over the last few decades. But in planning to add a new office and retail center to the broad street, KKCG Real Estate Group envisioned a facility that didn’t just satisfy commercial interests but also enhanced the livability quotient of the surrounding residential neighborhood, a heterogenous mix of family villas, mid-rise apartment blocks, and even a communist-era housing estate. “Besides the business functions of the complex, our main goal was to supplement public services and amenities in the catchment area,” CEO Petr Pujman says.

An international competition led the developer to engage a likeminded local practice, Aulík Fišer Architekti, to design the proposed center. “We considered the greatest strength of the brief was the ambition to reach out and help improve the neighboring areas,” acknowledges Jan Aulík, co-principal with Jakub Fišer of the firm. For client and architects, the common goal was to provide the community with a vibrant urban complex offering amenities, cafés, restaurants, and shops in the form of a refined public space—a contemporary reinterpretation of the small squares and intimate plazas that make the Czech capital’s famed historic district such a perennial delight.

The narrow 4.2-acre site’s positive aspects—a prime location directly above the Bor̆islavka metro station, for which the center is named, plus sweeping views of the city, including iconic Prague Castle—were offset by its awkward triangular shape and uneven topography. Aulík Fišer pored over historical street maps, which not only revealed how the quirky lot had evolved but also suggested ways its problems could be resolved. “We used the existing geometry, developed it further, and reopened passage through the site,” Fišer explains. “Then we subdivided the site into self-similar fractal segments”—treating it, in other words, as if it were a micro-neighborhood in an old town realized in modern architectural terms, which include meeting today’s environmental and sustainability requirements.

The resulting 751,000-square-foot complex comprises four faceted volumes sitting on a stone-clad, two-story plinth. The latter, which contains a partly subterranean shopping mall, addresses the changes in street elevation, integrating the center into the surrounding cityscape while providing a base for the quartet of glass-clad office structures. The irregular crystalline forms, up to seven stories tall, are carefully positioned to create narrow alleys and small open spaces between them, a permeable civic precinct that’s reassuringly familiar in scale and function while excitingly
modern in execution and style.

A tiny pre-existing square was transformed into a piazzetta, which provides barrier-free access to the whole complex and the metro station vestibule. Czech-Argentinian artist Federico Díaz created a monumental sculpture for this entry court, a towering assemblage of robotically engineered high-performance concrete that suggests ancient figures formed from sedimentary rock. It’s reflected in the multiangle facades’ structural glass, which is formulated to transmit ample daylight to the interiors while avoiding undesirable levels of solar glare on the outside.

The individual buildings are set into stepped green gardens, while entrance lobbies and public areas are filled with lush vegetation, including creepers growing up through atria and other soaring spaces. Inspired by tropical rainforests, an experimental form of indoor planting was specifically designed for the project: In the largest lobby, 76 rough-hewn acacia-wood posts the size of small trees rise in a gladelike cluster from a pool of shallow water, their trunks festooned with orchids, moss, and other epiphytic plants—a waft of the jungle that’s repeated on a smaller scale elsewhere in the complex. “It is not just vegetation, but an artwork that is alive and changeable,” says Zdenĕk Sendler, a landscape architect who collaborated on the project.

The abundant greeney is complemented by an extensive program of commissioned artworks and large-scale installations. Chief among the latter is The Iceberg, a diaphanous, light-filled arrangement of 120 fused-glass plates that emerges from the main reception area’s slatted wood ceiling like the softly glowing peaks of an inverted mountain range. Designed by Maxim Velc̆ovský, it’s the biggest piece the innovative Czech glass studio Lasvit has yet produced.

The Bor̆islavka Center is not all gardens and art, however. The four crystals house handsome office space, much of it occupied by KKCG Group and its associated divisions. (In a twist, the company sold the complex earlier this year and has become a tenant in its own development.) Aulík Fišer balances the interiors’ elegantly uniform fittings and furnishings—name-brand products characteristic of the modern corporate workplace worldwide—with custom elements and crafted pieces that bring a sense of individuality and surprise with them. And there is often a natural rawness to the materials, finishes, colors, and textures the team has chosen to use throughout.

The biophilia extends beyond aesthetics: Thanks to extensive green roofs, sophisticated rainwater management systems, elevator-energy recovery equipment, heat exchangers, and a slew of other environmentally friendly features, the whole complex has gained LEED Gold certification—affirmation that this crystal palace glitters in more ways than one.

Aulík Fišer Architekti: leoš horák; jakub hemzal; gabriela králová; david zalabák; alena sedláková; petra coufal skalická; eva mašková; jan dluhoš; ondrej cerný; petra merková; oleksandr nebozhenko; vojtech štamberg; kristýna zámostná

matouš hydroponie; zdenek sendler: landscape consultants

novecon; pbw group: interior outfitters

ruby project management: construction manager

feri; metrostav; zakládání staveb: general contractors

Dupont: desk solid surfacing (reception)

lasvit: ceiling installation

Studio Perspektiv: furniture (shopping mall)

spiral: glass facades

allegro; barrisol; kovprof: ceilings

llentab: skylights

exx; hormen; lumidee: lighting

jež: stone cladding, pavement

boca: carpet

hunter douglas; purstyl: window shades

Hickok Cole Creates an Eco-Sensitive Update for the American Geophysical Union’s Washington Headquarters

After nearly three decades, the mechanical systems in the American Geophysical Union’s once state-of-the-art headquarters in Washington were reaching the end of their useful life. For some people, the inevitable slide into obsolescence might trigger sledgehammer fantasies. But for the nonprofit AGU—a worldwide network of 130,000 professional experts and amateur enthusiasts in the Earth and space sciences that tracks the causes and effects of global warming—it was a moment of truth.

“Something major had to be done,” Hickok Cole senior principal and co-owner Yolanda Cole acknowledges. But rather than design a new structure from scratch, her firm was asked to modernize the 1993 Shalom Baranes Associates–designed building to meet net-zero energy goals and create a game-changing case study for the industry. “The AGU decided to walk the walk,” as Cole puts it.

Nearly 20 white papers later, client and firm had mapped out a comprehensive plan of energy reduction, reclamation, absorption, and generation for the 84,000-square-foot project, which includes two underground levels (the lowest a parking garage), five above-grade floors, and a rooftop penthouse and terrace. Two new open stairways connect and reorient different areas: One links ground and lower-level meeting and exhibit spaces; the other forms a central core between the top three floors, where workstations and an open-plan café accommodate 130 staff members. (The building’s second floor is tenant space.) Custom graphics incorporating photographs of the AGU’s main areas of research, both terrestrial and interplanetary, are printed on film applied to interior glass walls to serve identity and wayfinding functions.

“The organization was very attached to this building because of all the symbolism built into it, starting with its iconic ‘prow’ on the northeast corner,” Hickok Cole senior associate and lead project designer Guilherme Almeida says, referring to the shiplike steel-and-glass form that projected from the structure’s narrowest facade. Since this prominent exterior element only started on the second floor, however, its effect was mostly lost inside. Hickok Cole “democratized” it by opening up the corner and extending the glazing down to near street level; now every floor can experience the prow factor.

In all, the design team replaced more than 900 windows with dynamic, triple-pane, electrochromic glass, which uses sensors to measure sun levels and automatically tints to reduce glare and heat transmission. The fenestration is connected to the building’s interior lighting, so as the glass grows darker, the lights glow brighter. The windows also enable the AGU to limit its use of HVAC systems.

The site’s tight urban footprint did not allow for a geothermal plant, so Hickok Cole tapped another resource 30 feet below ground–the municipal sewers–using a technology developed in Europe to leverage the natural thermal energy flowing through the subterranean network. Screened wastewater is pumped into a heat exchanger with a separate closed-loop system that circulates clean water through coils embedded in drywall and metal ceiling panels to warm or cool the building efficiently.

The other major change is much more visible. To meet energy goals, the building required a larger photovoltaic array than would fit on the existing roof, so the eaves were extended by 4 feet all around—a strategy that neighborhood groups worried would look awkward and cast bigger shadows. Hickok Cole won them over with a dramatic silhouette that accentuates the prow, making the irregular pentagon–shape volume look more triangular.

The solar panels, which utilize every square inch of the rooftop, are supported on a steel lattice frame that allows daylight to penetrate into the penthouse, casts lovely dappled light on the terrace, and minimizes long shadows on the surrounding cityscape. “Now if you look at before shots, the building looks like it forgot its hat,” Almeida jokes.

Not everything is new. The client was adamant that, where possible, every material and fixture be recycled or repurposed, which meant that a beloved inlaid-marble compass on the lobby floor was left intact, and even exit signs were saved and reinstalled. With great care, builders salvaged and cleaned about 5,000 bricks for reuse in the facade. A local construction-aggregate company crushed up old windows, sinks, and toilets to be transformed into sparkly salt-and-pepper terrazzo flooring. Some existing furniture was reupholstered, cherry-veneer paneling was sanded down and lightened, and a polished slab of petrified wood from the AGU’s specimen collection tops the new reception desk as it had the original one.

Such measures did not always save money, but that was not the point. “For the organization, it was a mission that would add to the integrity of their purpose,” Cole explains. “Over time, if industries set up to do these things, it won’t be any more expensive than buying new.”

Perhaps the most consequential space Hickok Cole created, however, is a bare-bones command center on the lower level. It’s where engineers continually monitor the building’s energy consumption and generation, collecting thousands of data points every day in an ongoing net-zero architectural experiment that may lead to further innovations. “If nothing else, this project may convince people that all-glass buildings are not always the answer,” Almeida says. “The surprise takeaway is that you can have a class-A space in a 1990’s building.”

Hickok Cole: Emily Rickman; Johanna Lofstrom

Lee and Associates Inc: Landscape Consultant

C&G Partners: Custom Graphics

Tadjer-Cohen-Edelson Associates: Structural Engineer

Interface Engineering: Mep.

Vika: Civil Engineer

Architectural Wood: Woodwork

Hitt Contracting: General Contractor

MGAC: Construction Manager

Clipso: ceiling panels (top floor)

watson: table (conference room)

herman miller: chairs

Marmi Faedo: limestone (reception)

vibia: pendant fixtures (lounge)

bernhardt design: sofa

First Office: high table

Davis Furniture: coffee table (lounge), armchairs (lounge, pre-function area)

keilhauer: café table, chairs (lounge), ottoman (huddle room)

Emeco: barstools (lounge), side chairs (terrace)

Bison: wood pavers (terrace)

landscape forms: seating

Andreu World: table, side table (terrace), bench (huddle room)

Nedlaw Living Walls: green wall (huddle room)

Dupont: countertop (breakout hall)

carnegie: paneling

Interface; Shaw Contract: carpet

Capri Collections: cork flooring

Messana Radiant Cooling; Zehnder Rittling: ceiling panels

armstrong: ceiling tile

Shinnoki: wood-veneer paneling

Erco: track lighting

JLC-Tech: linear lighting

Safti First: interior glass wall system

Sageglass: exterior glass

Wausau: exterior curtain wall

Arconic: exterior metal panels

Sherwin-Williams: paint