The Burgher Haggard office renovation transforms a tightly enclosed 1960s building by opening up its walls and ceilings to flood the interior with daylight. The intervention includes new full-height storefront windows protected by deep overhangs, matching the existing clerestory module. Bright orange steel columns and bar joists, discovered during demolition, are embraced as character-defining features and establish a rhythmic pattern in the space, recalling the building’s mid-century origins.
The existing plan consisted of a maze of hallways leading to small offices and examination rooms, with few windows beyond the entry and minimal natural light from the clerestory. The new plan cuts open the facade in four locations, replacing solid walls with floor-to-ceiling glass to maximize daylighting and create visual connections to the exterior in two primary open floor plan zones. Secondary spaces such as administrative offices, conference rooms, breakout spaces, and a reception area flank these central day-lit zones. The ancillary spaces benefit from the existing clerestory and new interior glass walls, allowing light to spill in from the open areas. Unlike the original closed-cell floor plan, the new design features open and multi-functional spaces.
Enhanced native landscaping gives the project greater street presence and integrates the landscape into the interior open areas. A reclaimed landscape zone and new concrete planters extend the landscape to the edge of the new window walls, infusing the renovated office areas with a connection to nature. Exterior design elements are brought inside, and the interior reaches out, making interaction with the native plantscape and surrounding neighborhood a part of the daily routine.
