Office of Orchard Manufacturing Co. / Curved Architecture

Office of Orchard Manufacturing Co. / Curved Architecture

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Text description provided by the architects. Orchard Manufacturing offers a new approach to factory design that creates a happy and healthy workplace inspired by nature.

As a business, Orchard Manufacturing espouses a natural philosophy, but it’s hard to imagine an environment more removed from nature than a manufacturing plant! Inspired by the ideology of artist and activist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, this new production site is different. It takes the spirit of the surrounding natural world and weaves it inside an existing warehouse shell.

“The spiral is located at this precise place where inanimate matter is transformed into life. I am convinced, for example, that the act of creation has the nature of a spiral. The real spiral is not geometric but vegetative. It bulges, gets thinner and thicker, and bypasses obstacles in its path.” Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Harnessing Hundertwasser’s vegetal spirals, the spirit of the landscape – expressed through color and texture – is encouraged to flow from the nearby native reserve into the interior of the production facility. These elements ebb and flow within, informing the choice of finishes and materials and even inspiring naturally undulating floors.

The project creates an engaging and dynamic work environment, the antithesis of the sterile and oppressive environments we typically associate with production facilities. Color, texture and organic shapes create a stimulating and exciting space, bringing a smile to employees and visitors.