Verdant Sanctuary in Palo Alto, California by Form 4 Architecture

Article source: Form 4 Architecture

The oasis-like Verdant Sanctuary with its California xeriscape landscape that provides a buffer zone between the building and the street offers a pastoral and poetic break in an existing row of workaday buildings. Located in Palo Alto’s Stanford Research Park, Verdant Sanctuary neighbors a 1953 building designed by German architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953) the original research-and-development facility that started Silicon Valley. Designed by Form4 Architecture, Verdant Sanctuary expresses its embrace of nature through each design element. It will be made almost entirely of mass timber and glass, and its dramatic roof design echoes the shape of a bird’s wings. Form4’s design plays off of the vernacular tradition of California Modernism, revisiting forms by inverting gable roofs and opening up the building enclosure to nature.

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

• Architects: Form 4 Architecture
• Project: Verdant Sanctuary
• Location: Palo Alto, California
• Size: 53,000 square feet; 35-feet tall
• Client: Sand Hill Property Company

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

The two-story building emphasizes horizontality through its various rooflines, acknowledging the scale of neighboring buildings as well as the prairie-like nature of the research park environment. Projecting and receding volumes create a lively building envelope as opposed to the static, flat façade typical of office buildings. Double-height glazing reinforces the corner condition and indicates the main entry. The generously scaled entrance canopy is supported by mass timber structural elements, consistent with the rest of the building. The glazing in the curtainwall is so clear and unobstructed that the roofs seem to float, and occupants feel as if they are surrounded by nature within a warm, welcoming workplace that fosters creativity.

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Gardens and landscape on the site promote biodiversity, and plantingsmany of them native were specially selected for arid conditions. The second level has a smaller footprint than the first, allowing room for a roof garden that faces south for optimum sun exposure, and is sheltered from street noise by the second-level building mass. This upper-level oasis is accessed by a dramatic processional stairway that echoes the angle aesthetics seen throughout the building. Corten-steel railing in a perforated pattern based on the large mature trees on the site accents the angles. The play of shape extends to the wood lattice shading device that defines an open seating area. Extending the bird-wing motif and emphasizing the project’s angle-based richness, the lattice structure is held up by diagonal struts.

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Form4 Architecture has pioneered sustainable design in Silicon Valley and was the first architecture firm to complete a LEED-Platinum, net-zero electric building there. This and other Form4 projects exemplify an approach to environmental design that combines carbon reduction with a joy in how buildings are experienced. The designers and architects at Form4 believe that “the most sustainable things in life are those things you won’t throw away because you love them too much.”

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Utilizing passive sustainability strategies, Verdant Sanctuary has large roof overhangs that shade the glazing in the summer. In the winter, when the sun is low, the expanses of glass provide beneficial solar heat gain. The building is all electric with PV panels for harvesting sustainable energy. The green roof provides natural insulation. The structural system is a hybrid of mass timber and steel, with steel only used where maximum spans exceed what is reasonable for wood. Benefits of mass timber structures include thermal efficiency, carbon reduction, less construction traffic, and improved health and human comfort. The surface parking is relatively small and humanized with generous planting, green connective pathways, and benches.

The welcoming design of Verdant Sanctuary emphasizes the relationship between the high-tech industry and nature. Its honesty in material selection and abundant glazing place the innovation and creativity happening within on display, all while surrounding occupants with a lush, climate-appropriate backdrop.

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Image Courtesy © Form 4 Architecture

Tags: California, Palo Alto

Category: Sanctuary

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 7th, 2023 at 5:53 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.