This Architecture Office Is Half-Cabin, Half-Boat

Spanish architecture firm as-built Arquitectura needed a way to bring light into their office located in downtown Ferrol, where a long, narrow building in the 18th-century city center provided little natural light to the busy designers.

Using a framework of white-painted pine wood, the team created an interior cabin fitted with LED lights to brighten up the space and create a more inspiring work atmosphere. Arranged in a vaguely triangular shape, the planks of the cabin were designed to look like an upside-down boat keel. And beneath this boat-like structure reside the designers’ work stations.

On either side of the cabin, there’s a small lobby for visitors and, near the back of the building, a conference room. A kitchen and storage shelves are tucked around the corner on the other side of the cabin wall. The structural walls of the office are painted a dark gray to contrast with the light wood of the cabin structure.

The result is a dramatic office space that feels more homey than the 16-foot-wide, 52-foot-long building would normally support. The cabin provides a bright centerpiece in an otherwise shadowy building.

[via contemporist]