The conceptual ideas about the HA·LO Headquarters deal with urban planning, function and technology.

The building is arranged like a simple and clear diagram. Its components are placed in a logical, rational and constructed way.

Interest is in engineering and performance, rather than design and style. The result is a building of maximum transparency.

Transparency deals with light. Traditionally light has been directed at the material fabric of a building, illuminating the solid.

At the HA·LO Headquarters we are moving into a realm, where light is the essence of the design.

The building is luminous, not illuminated.

The facade acts as a fabric which moderates the natural and the artificial light, it becomes a screen.

The functions are within an adaptable envelope, which responds to the exterior environmental conditions and creates the desired interior environment.

URBAN PLANNING

The 7-story building establishes the desired identity at Touhy and Leigh. Projecting loggias form entries at both ends. Building, parking and warehouse are organized through the landscaping like a collage of shifted geometries.

FUNCTION

The functions are placed around a 7-story open court. The low floors are loft-type offices.

The top 2 floors are showrooms and executive offices around a 2-story sky-court. This clear stacking is readable at the entry facade and contributes to the building's transparency.

TECHNOLOGY

Technology is not added, it is an integral part of the design. Technology is not exhibited, but working towards meeting the building's functional, spatial and environmental goals.

Technology is advanced, but more in the way that proven and tested materials and components are put together than through invention. Newness is achieved through the elimination of the inessential.

CLIMATE/ENERGY

The only way architecture can be new today is through assuming responsibility for more than form and aesthetic.

Responsible architecture has to control its environment through design not solely through added technical and mechanical system. Otherwise technology becomes self-purpose.

Daylight, solar energy and the idea that the skin of a building modulates its own climate have not yet been integrated as essential components in commercial design.

The inclusion of these methodologies is a desirable goal. Through this, we can rededicate ourselves towards our natural reflexes and intuitive actions.

The result: Buildings with high technology and low energy. This meets an "eco-tech" approach. A building in harmony between people, technology and nature.