Oh I do so like it when a building makes us do a double take and go, “wait, what?”  Like making brick into a sinuous wave that melts away from a heavy volume that now perches precariously…

And that’s just what this building does.  Even better is that the curvy bricks become a staircase, giving access to the office that sits within the more traditional boxy form balanced above, which in turn opens to the sky with a concealed rooftop garden.  Below, a retail space slips under the artificial hill, the articulated brick expressing itself as the ceiling cascades down through a series of carefully plastered waves.

Very neat.  While the brief was something so commonplace (and time tested as being a good urban model): multi-use building of office atop retail, the result is anything but commonplace.  It is a playful addition to the city’s fabric, a building that is both a delight to the eye and, especially for the tenants of the office, a delight to access every morning.

The Termeh Office Commercial Building by  Farshad Mehdizadeh Architects