Design Concept: The 40,000-square-foot building, constructed warehouse-style, has turned into a branded environment suitable for 130 international designers. A latticework canopy in clear-finished ash therefore hovers above the central circulation path scales down the 24-foot ceiling, extending most of the building’s 300-foot length. On one side, the canopy descends to front a run of design labs. The labs are identified by supersize numbers created by leaving out strategic sections of the ash strips, so the white-painted gypsum-board behind appears in the appropriate shapes. Another smaller feature wall, comprising 1-by-3-inch blocks of end-grain Michigan ash mostly stained black, backs the desk in the reception area. 

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