Aluminum panels comprise the facade around the office space. Photo © Michelle Weir, click to enlarge.

Whereas in the earlier project the architects put the fabrics on full display, now they have employed a more nuanced strategy, starting from the outside in. Two bands of thick-gauge aluminum panels in a 3½-foot by 10-foot module replace the stuccoed taller building segment. The panels, hung from custom-designed wall brackets that are hidden from view, form a windowless rainscreen surrounding the office space, and conceal the entrance. “Unlike the first building, the new one is very close to its neighbors, which are mainly light industrial,” says Fearon Hay partner Tim Hay. “This business has a very different attitude, so we made the facade a bit of a mystery to the street—one of deflection and invitation at the same time.” The aluminum has a raw finish that will oxidize over time, particularly in Auckland’s coastal air.

Without daylight from the perimeter, Fearon Hay cut a series of oversize light shafts throughout the roof of the almost entirely rebuilt steel-frame office structure—the abundant wall space and overhead illumination providing an ideal setting for displaying Wall’s significant art collection.

A rotating display of the client’s artwork punctuates the 12½-foot-high skylit interiors. Photos © Michelle Weir

Seeing an opportunity to create different moments of focus, Hay, on the second go-round, separated the fabric storage from the office. He created a sequence of spaces upon entry—from the open office and meeting room to the large social space used for weekly lunch gatherings that include the dozen or so employees, and guests engaged in art and commerce. That space opens onto a small courtyard bound by walls of concrete block that Hay designed for privacy from the adjacent building. Just past the social space, another large office area accommodates specialized staff of the diversifying business and other enterprises. “There is a layering of what you reveal,” says Hay.

A social space opens to a newly constructed private courtyard. Photo © Michelle Weir

The long lower portion of the building was retained—with the exception of the removal of some “architectural barnacles,” according to Hay—and painted battleship gray. To access that space, used almost entirely for storing fabric rolls, Fearon Hay inserted a dramatic staircase, its darkened stainless-steel banister and railing treated in a phosphate dip and coated in beeswax.

Occupied earlier this year, this building may not be the last for this pairing of architect and client. Fearon Hay recently opened a studio in Los Angeles. While that office is currently at work on residential projects, Wall may be expanding there as well. No doubt a third collaboration would reveal yet another slant.