This sculpturally expressive, bioregionally appropriate building was designed to foster creativity and human interaction and to be a living example of Indigo's mission to “integrate art, architecture and ecology”. The office occupies the site of an old Dairy Queen restaurant, an underutilized lot adjacent to the railroad tracks and within walking distance from the Amtrak station and downtown businesses. Instead of tearing the old structure down and starting from scratch, Indigo optimized it, using it’s 1960’s “gull-wing” roofline as a starting point for an entirely new design with an addition, drought-tolerant landscaping and a permeable site surface.
Curving strawbale walls in the main office make use of rice straw, a local agricultural byproduct to provide a counterpoint to an addition clad in austere corrugated metal. Structural columns were designed and fabricated by the architects, as were custom furnishings sculpted from local hardwoods. Building occupants have direct access to outdoor courtyards that are oriented for working, eating and socializing: shaded in summer; sunny and protected in winter. Super-insulated strawbale walls and thermal heat sinks maintain a comfortable atmosphere year round.
