Office Building

Burlingame, CA

Project Start Date:

Completion Date: 

1984

1985

Project Description:

A triangular lot with one curved side, community design controls, and a fixed amount of square footage combined with a set height limit placed severe constraints on the design of this office building in downtown Burlingame. The building is four stories, containing 21,300 square feet of offices over 48,000 square feet of underground parking.

In response to the site constraints, the sense of mass was reduced by separating the structure into two portions, which in turn are broken by a series of horizontal setbacks.

These two segments were further differentiated in order to respond to two entirely different types of neighboring uses. One segment, adjoining a residential neighborhood, has two stories with a setback third floor; the other, adjacent to commercial structures, has three stories with a setback fourth.

Both segments come together at the vertex of a triangle, creating a v-shaped space that forms a small courtyard, the project's main entry. Because the courtyard takes over some of the lobby function, common space occupies only 9% of the actual building area, as opposed to a standard of 15%-l8%. This increased the amount of leasable space, adding considerably to building income.

Terraces outside each exterior-facing office proved an additional selling point to prospective tenants by making the rooms feel larger. Greenhouse-like projections from these offices offer a transitional indoor/outdoor space suitable for cool or wet weather. The curved roofs of the "greenhouses" echo the arch of the windows and entries.

Lorton Place received the Pacific Coast Builders' Conference Gold Nugget Award in 1985.