Olson Kundig Designs Office Made From Wind Turbine Parts

Seattle-based <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/08/22/rolling-huts-by-olson-sundberg-kundig-allen-architects/" target="_blank">Olson Kundig Architects</a> have designed an impressive office made from wind turbine parts for <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/10/13/worlds-largest-wind-farm-will-be-built-in-oregon/" target="_blank">wind power</a> manufacturer <a href="http://www.tbailey.com/" target="_blank">T Bailey Construction and Fabrication</a>. The design of the new headquarters (located next to T Bailey's tubular tower plant) incorporates heavy steel tubes into a series of efficient offices that are powered by <a href="http://inhabitat.com/energy/">renewable energy</a>. The towers are retrofitted into an entrance to the offices and a chimney that purges hot air from the building.

Olson Kundig Architects designed this 11,700 sq foot office addition to T Bailey's manufacturing plant in Anacortes, WA.

As T Bailey fabricates wind turbine towers in their fabrication plant, they wanted to utilize these parts in their office addition to show off their products as well as their interest in renewable energy.

The office space features two wind turbine tower sections that are used as the entrance to the office.

The inspiration for the office design came from deconstructing the wind turbine into its parts - the tower sections and the blades.

Two tower sections are placed nearby the manufacturing plant - one horizontally and the other vertically.

The roof of the plant is extended to create a two-story office building built around the tower sections.

Solar panels are added to the roof to generate power for the office.

The vertical tower acts as a solar chimney for the office. It is coupled with a fan and skylight that pulls out hot air from the office, providing natural ventilation.

The materials for the office building are left raw and unfinished to give the whole office an industrial feeling while minimizing the presence of toxic finishes in the office.

T Bailey wanted to show off their fabrication skills along with their interest in wind energy by using wind turbine parts in their new office addition.

The plant and office are located right on the coast near Anacortes, Washington.

The steel tower sections will be left unfinished in their natural raw state.

The roof is also used to direct rainwater runoff onto a rainwater garden and nearby landscape.