Merit Award
Biotechnology Campus
Location
Thousand Oaks, CA
Design
Sussman/Prejza & Company
Design Team
Holly Hampton (Principal in Charge), Hsin-Hsien Tsai, Hillary Jaye, Sharon Blair (Designers)
Fabrication
ColorPro/GlassPro (glass installations), Imagic (digital graphics)
Client
Anonymous
Consultants
Johnson Fain (architects), Horton Lee Brogden (site lighting), Light Vision (fitness center lighting), Mia Leher Associates (landscape)
Photographer
Benny Chan, Wayne Thom
From a relatively modest campus built in the 1970s, this biotechnology campus has grown to house the world leader in the industry. In anticipation of continued growth and expansion, the campus masterplan was formulated, with the first task being the design of a cohesive signage and wayfinding system to replace the many disparate layers that accumulated over the years.
In form, the sign is a simple curved aluminum panel emerging from the ground plane. The bold, simple color helps establish the monolithic simplicity of the form, especially when seen throughout the campus. And single-sided signs are layered with abstract molecular images that emerge from a silver background.
For the numerous on-site employee perk locations, a palette of materials and techniques was developed to express transparency and luminosity. This expression took hold in the form of photographic transparencies laminated between clear and silvered glass. The fitness center features closely cropped images of the human body, juxtaposed with desert sand dunes. Workout rooms feature quotes by sports legends etched into the mirror. Leased office buildings utilize digital wall graphics in place of laminated glass.
Jury Comment
"Rich images and colors add vibrancy to the interior spaces while serving on the exterior as a distinct foil to the muted tones of the desert setting. The integral application of large graphics to architecture is quite successful; this graphics program is less about wayfinding and more about place-making and enhancing this large, self-contained campus work environment."