Closer look at the Eric Owen Moss-designed Pterodactyl Office, a 2017 IDEAS2 National Steel Design Award winner
By Justine Testado|
Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017
Appearing almost creature-like, the Pterodactyl Office in Culver City, California was among the 13 projects that won national recognition in the AISC 2017 IDEAS2 Awards earlier this year. Locally based Eric Owen Moss Architects designed the building, while Nast Enterprises Corp., Los Angeles (who entered the project to the competition) was in charge of structural engineering. The project won in the “Projects Less than $15 Million” category.
The angular office building was constructed right on top of an existing 4-story steel-framed parking garage. Several existing columns are cantilevered beyond the top of the parking structure to provide support for the mezzanine and roof superstructure. The building's structural configuration comprises nine “rotated ‘boxes’” that provide enough space at the corners and at their intersections to accommodate the elements of the structure.
Evidently, the Pterodactyl Office's structural design impressed the IDEAS2 competition jury. “The design overcame the inherent limitations of supporting the new building over the existing parking structure layout,” commented Ben Varela, founding principal at WORKPOINT engineering, and the structural engineer juror in the competition.
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25 Comments
citizen · Aug 10, 17 2:18 AM
That's a great illustration of the architectural axiom that the making of apparently casual forms is actually highly complicated.
randomised · Aug 10, 17 7:01 AM
That looks incredibly dated, could be a BEST Showroom judging from the second picture.
Erik Evens · Aug 10, 17 2:30 PM
imagine the leaks.
citizen · Aug 10, 17 3:46 PM
It may not be attractive, but a least if doesn't work well.
Miles Jaffe · Aug 10, 17 4:24 PM
+++ citizen
Juan Lagarrigue · Aug 10, 17 4:56 PM
throw-up buckets behind the screens? may be needed
Juan Lagarrigue · Aug 10, 17 4:56 PM
throw-up buckets behind the screens? may be needed
Chemex · Aug 10, 17 5:28 PM
Imagine Frank Gehry minus the design talent
Chemex · Aug 10, 17 5:28 PM
Imagine Frank Gehry minus the design talent
Chemex · Aug 10, 17 5:28 PM
Imagine Frank Gehry minus the design talent
Juan Lagarrigue · Aug 10, 17 5:36 PM
there's a bug in the matrix, everything is echoing
randomised · Aug 10, 17 8:10 PM
there's a bug in the matrix, everything is echoing
citizen · Aug 10, 17 8:15 PM
there's a matrix in the bug, echoing is everything
Chemex · Aug 10, 17 8:39 PM
In the future, ideas will be judged by loudness and repetition.
Chemex · Aug 10, 17 8:39 PM
In the future, ideas will be judged by loudness and repetition.
Juan Lagarrigue · Aug 10, 17 8:42 PM
eh... in the future?
Thad Nobuhara · Aug 11, 17 7:23 AM
Let's not forget this was designed in 1999 and early 2000s.
randomised · Aug 11, 17 6:50 PM
"Let's not forget this was designed in 1999 and early 2000s."
Already then it was dated.
Erik Evens · Aug 11, 17 7:17 PM
"Nothing ages faster than yesterday's vision of the future"
- Witold Rybzynski
citizen · Aug 11, 17 10:00 PM
If something's good, we don't care about "dated."
You never hear anyone complaining, "that Pantheon is so first century," or "Gag me, that Allegheny County Courthouse is so 1880s!"
Good's always good.
Erik Evens · Aug 11, 17 10:04 PM
"It's not good because it's old, it's old because it's good!"
Thad Nobuhara · Aug 11, 17 11:16 PM
i dont think good has to last forever
Erik Evens · Aug 11, 17 11:28 PM
Why shouldnt it?
Thad Nobuhara · Aug 12, 17 3:30 PM
im not saying it shouldn't either.
some things good are meant to last forever
other things good are only meant to last awhile
randomised · Aug 15, 17 5:35 PM
Is it just me or is this item removed from the front page, untraceable with the search function within archinect or by going through my own comments? I had to bloody google to get here...weird.
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