New Chapel for Salem AME
Salem, Alabama
bezalel design


Relocation to a building also design by the firm allowed for a combination of working lab for ideas as well as a showroom of sort for clients. Many ideas from this project have made their way into other projects produced by the firm because the client was shown both drawings and actual construction of the ideas. The studio is completely open with low walled cubicles in order to have constant communication between team members. Exposed systems serve as a teaching tool to younger professionals in the office. The studio was located on the north side of the building in order to benefit from diffuse sun; this daylight scheme, along with at desk task lighting, works so well that most days the overhead artificial lightings is never even turned on.
A metaphor of architecture being the weaving together of different disciplines, systems, and materials is shown in several key elements of the design. A overhead perforated metal ribbon weaves in between sprinkler pipes, ductwork, and building structure. The sliding office doors complete with exterior barn hardware have a carved motif invoking a woven surface. At entry wood ribbons are woven in-between steel channels to form a screen wall and entry sculpture to the central gallery which has a continues slide show of the firms work running on a looped projection, as well as a tack-up and writeable surface wall for presentations and critiques.