WSU Information Technology Building | Atrium

At Washington State University we once had a lovely atrium space in the middle of the Information Technology Building, it brought in natural daylight and created a space of enjoyment for workers to go and enjoy lunch or get fresh air. Our recent build of the new Cougar Football Stadium caused for the atrium space to be completely closed up and it created a black abyss for workers to not be able to have any lighting coming through into their office windows anymore. Which is where the title of Embezzled Opportunities comes in, any previous chance of changing the space were stolen and now that it is filled with mold and mildew those opportunities are presented once again. The concept behind the design was Informal vs Formal, with a way of connecting the two as a workplace but also making their main purpose to be different. On the formal side of the workplace there is a conference space, this was a big part of the design as there currently is not a large enough space for meetings to take place. This conference area can be enlarged by remotely opening the partitions called Skyfolds which fold up into the ceiling so they ultimately take up no floor space and have acoustic properties. There are also pods for smaller meetings that also have acoustic properties to them for a little more privacy and single seating for those that want privacy while working alone. The informal side of the workplace contains a coffee / deli cart as well as a more social seating for people to be. Theres comfort single seating, cozy love seats and booths for a little more private conversing. The lighting within these spaces are mixed to create different moods and different fixtures to create these moods by turning some on and some off. The use of Reflection is a main lighting feature I placed on both the informal and formal sides, they are LED lamps that reflect off of a shade and down into a specific area, they can be seen on the architectural columns around the workplace. The other main lighting concept was Color Mixing, the use of green, blue and red LED lamps put together and their rays produce central white light, these are found along the perimeter of the workplace to add extra illuminance to perimeter as most of the fixtures are central to not disturb those working in their offices. There will be more privacy for offices since many currently do not have blinds or shades in them, this can be seen in the window film placed along the bottom portion of their windows. This project was one I truly enjoyed, it was great to collaborate with our cougar peers and get their input in what they are looking for in this space. In the future I will spend more time on correcting the placement of the lighting to illuminate all portions of the space.