Stewart provided design services for an office amenity rooftop that features an outdoor gathering space in a renovated historic building in downtown Durham. The roof plaza overlooks the Durham skyline, and can be seen from all floors of the building. The project utilizes different surface materials to differentiate areas of the plaza, which needed to remain at one elevation due to the design and infrastructure of the existing rooftop structural elements. The concept incorporates references to historic design features of the building, and also provides new features such as skylights, power stations, furniture, and lighting elements.
One challenge of the project was aligning the design vision to the structural capacities of the existing rooftop. Working closely with Stewart’s structural engineers, the updated design required detailed studies of weight distribution and limits of the proposed features, as well as elevation restrictions.
Photos by Tzu Chen