OFFICE 2

A simple initial commission for a reception desk evolved into a project for the entrance hall of a notary’s office. The small windowless foyer of an eighteenth-century townhouse was to become a reception area providing access to the upper floors, meeting room, garage and basement. To do this, the space was first extended through a carriage passage that connects the atrium and garage to the street. All walls and ceilings are treated as continuous neutral surfaces, punctuated only by the grid of industrial lights hanging in the corridor. The entrance hall is like a glass pavilion inserted into this stark extension; enclosed by mirroring walls, it enacts a space within an effectively non-transparent volume. Modular thin black steel frames contain laminated glass panels, consisting of a milky film layer sandwiched between an outer layer of reflective and an inner layer of transparent glass. When the five horizontal fluorescent lamps behind each panel are switched off, this creates a mirroring effect; when the lamps are switched on, the panels turn foggy. The light system is controlled from the desk, which is the only object in the empty room. Everything else is concealed behind the openable modules, in the residual space between the walls of the existing building and the skewed line of glass. Some panels double as doors, while others incorporate storage space or merely encase the lamps, depending on the depth available. At the entrance, a wardrobe cupboard protrudes beyond the limits of the room, confusing the notion of the front and shifting the focus to the interior.