OVERLOOK FARMS
Building One
Readington, New Jersey

Office Building Complex
550,000 SF

CLIENT The Patrinely Group, a commercial real estate development company based in Houston, Texas.

SITE The site is a prime suburban development property adjacent to Interstate 78 in Readington Township, New Jersey, one hour southwest of New York City.

PROGRAM A site plan for this property was previously approved, but abandoned in the late 1980s. The recent resurgence in the office market has attracted a new developer and design concept. The only constraint of the redesign was that it conform to the substance of the approved site plan so as to avoid a time-consuming new application. The revised brief was to create a first-class, two-building office complex that could be built in two phases as demand grows.

DESIGN SOLUTION Coverage limitations and steep terrain require that the majority of the parking for the first phase be accommodated in a structure partially engaged in the sloping site. The office floors and main reception areas are located directly above the enclosed parking. The usual sea of cars is thereby almost entirely concealed from sight and building users get the added benefit of covered parking, an amenity rarely found in this area.

The resulting structure is thus only three stories high on the approach side, but five stories on the opposite side which faces toward a protected natural landscape buffering the site from the adjacent highway. Because of the grade change, the see-through central entrance lobby is dramatically elevated above this landscape. Building users are drawn to this central lobby when entering and exiting the building as well as when crossing to and from its east and west wings. Because of the lobby’s transparency, the landscape, not the lobby itself, is the dominant referential space for the building.

Construction is scheduled to commence in mid-1999.