OIZ Office, integrating nature into the work environment

OIZ Office is a project located in Ankara, Turkey, which serves for the Aerospace Specialized Organized Industrial Zone’s administrative personnel and board of directors.
What generates the design and organizes the program is the idea of integrating nature into the work environment. Therefore, the spaces are arranged in programmatic clusters which are integrated with inner gardens. The gardens make sure that natural light reaches every corner within the building, blurring the distinction between inside and outside in a way. Each office table has an inner garden on one edge. While separated physically with horizontal inner gardens, thus achieving ideal dimensions and clear divisions for different functions; visual continuity is maintained through transparency. The careful and organizational inclusion of green into the office program ensures a better environment to work in, for all the users, as well as giving a sense of spaciousness within the offices, which are mostly known to be rather dull spaces.
A dynamic interior is achieved through including the nature into design. The effect of the seasonal changes can be observed in many different ways like the illumination of the snow into interior or the ever changing shadows of the trees in a day. The courtyards also ensure the natural ventilation in the building, which supports the inclusion of user-friendly design decisions within the process.
The clusters are organized as such: conference hall and meeting hall cluster, cluster of offices for different departments, VIP rooms cluster and cafeteria cluster. The depth of the clusters are utilized in such a way that the areas that do not require natural light, such as services and conference hall, are located either at the central core or inner edge in order not to hinder the relationship between the spaces and gardens, thereby creating a sense of hierarchy. A continuous slab unites the clusters underneath and creates a free-flowing interior plaza which accommodates a small cafe, seating areas and the foyer of the conference hall.
The structural system of the building has been solved in a design-oriented manner; the columns and beams that carry the roof are joined as frames, so that they can be turned into urban furniture / seating benches serving the building users. The unison of urban furniture and structural system is a very useful attribute within the project, supporting the user-friendly approach pursued during the design process.