Split Space

The two functions are separated by a top-lit shower room, and a change of floor level. The double-height gym space accommodates an adjustable climbing wall, and incorporates extensive roof-glazing to provide views of the sky, recalling the experience of climbing outdoors. The building volume steps in and out to accommodate the roots of existing trees, and the resulting splits are glazed to provide framed views into and through the building, and from the building to the exterior. Planned landscaping will bring calming views of lush vegetation into these views. Full-height glazed doors to one wall of the office furthers this visual connection to the garden. Desks and storage are integrated into the solid walls of the office space, which appear as planes and volumes continuous to the exterior due to their timber cladding inside and out. Like other William Tozer Associates’ projects, Split Space is informed by an interest in the work of Gordon Matta-Clark, Donald Judd, and James Turrell—particularly the Conical Intersect and Splitting, Specific Object, and Skyspace works respectively. Our projects make sculptural compositions of volumes and planes, loosely dividing open-plan spaces into zones of use through their alignments and misalignments, changes of floor and ceiling level, and continuities and distinctions in the selection of materials, lighting, and other fixtures and fittings. Some of these elements and selections operate to support conceptual and sculptural moves at various scales, while others are intended to appear as utilitarian furnishings that do not distract from the perception of this. Inspired by the work of Loos and Hertzberger, the spaces that result from these design processes are spatially complex in three dimensions, and the views across, through, into and out of our ‘raumplanned’ buildings promote social interaction.