The headquarters for a digital motion-picture graphics firm is principally a building built over a building. The design of this four-storey building reflects the requirement of providing a unified working environment for a high class graphics company while allowing privacy between groups working within the same project. The firm often handles multiple clients competing for the same projects and must keep a high-level of discretion within the company. The client insisted on confidentiality and secrecy for competitive reasons, sometimes working together on projects for two different networks or studios.

Eric Owen Moss worked intensively with the client in order to develop design that would limit access to sensitive areas. By carefully layering private and public zones and through the creation of control nodes, the architecture gave concern to a natural security system. This method provides a flexible environment capable of adapting to the changing needs of the client.

The design intentions of 3535 Hayden Avenue were to give security and flexibility to multiple groups operating within the same company, integrate the structural features of the pre-existing warehouse, and establish energy saving features. The ground level contains a cafetaria and dining area with access to an enclosed garden, as well as production areas. The upper floors contain editing bays, computer rooms, galleries, a large library and office space, and the top floor contains executive offices which are set back on the south side to create an outdoor deck and lounge area.

The 3535 Hayden Avenue constructed into four steps. First, demolishing a group of old warehouses, salvaging only the timber bowstring truss system from one of them, and a masonry wall along the length of the site. A four-storey steel frame of wide-flange beams and tubular columns was built over the trusses, which are now exposed and extend beyond the south wall. The purpose is the volume that results from a steel frame climbing over bow string trusses is not extraneous to an office program. The conventions for selecting structure omit the sort of spatial no sequiturs that this combination represents.

Second, a sequence of parallel walls follows the frames that follow the trusses, one wall at the parking/building perimeter, a pair that encloses the double loaded coridor, the third that closes the office block. In opposition there’s the infectious anomaly as lobby, separated from the frame and walls. The third floor removed, lobby as residence. The third manifestation is the replacement of the original east end offices with a theater. The anomaly is now both the public entrance to the offices. The entrance lobby contains all circulation systems, including stairs, elevators and linking bridges to provide vantage points to the lobby and the glazed office spaces; an organization which provides the accessibility and visibility to the public that the client required.

Fourth, the current translation returns the building to office use, enlarging the building by hooking four new office blocks to the north wall, and adds the louvered screens. The north facade is topped by a system of transparent bridges that provides a ‘rollercoaster’ line running from one block to the other. The design utilizes energy saving techniques and conceptually applies sustainable features into the design of the building. Louvered overhangs and screens shade the south facing windows and mechanical equipment reducing the demand for energy. Careful attention was paid to the boundaries between the exterior and interior of the facility. The combination of roof decks, terraces, operable windows, and lushly landscaped gardens facilitate both a flexible and interactive work environment.

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