Office Creation
urban infill
creative reuse 
sustainable design
Swerve recently moved into our new home in West Berkeley, a creative reuse + structural renovation + building addition providing us with a much expanded factory, spacious and sparkling offices, and a brand-new showroom. Come visit us at 2629 Seventh Street, Berkeley, CA 94710.
Images of our former home at 2332 5th Street can be found here.
New structure is sided with 100% recycled polyethylene --- your recycled plastic bags and milk bottles, put to work architecturally.
The office / showroom addition seen through a re-sheathed production area, above. Rehabilitation of clerestory windows throughout the space provides a soft, directionless sense of light without the thermal losses associated with horizontal skylights.
The white-painted trusses and purlins became part of the new shop; red structure remains exposed. All told, more than 2/3 of the structure is reclaimed steel.
Our schematics incorporate sizable overhangs to protect second floor windows from strong summer sun; a bamboo greenscreen and concrete sitewall protect the floor-to-ceiling ground level fenestrations from excessive insolation. Concrete floors in all spaces act as thermal masses to dampen and delay thermal extremes during summer heat, and are fitted with radiant tubing to efficiently heat the space during the winter.