In 1982, English architect Sir Richard Rogers designed a building for the Patscenter International Corporation, and it happened to be located in East Windsor, New Jersey - just a seven minute drive from the KSD Cranbury office.
In fact, after the original owner vacated the building, Kamlesh Shah Designs, Inc. has continuously been involved in the expansion, exterior upgrades and intensive fit-out designs for the next corporations to occupy the facility.
In an impressive innovative design, Rogers' Patscenter rejected a conventional frame structure that would traditionally consist of beams on columns anchored into a foundation. Instead, he designed the walls to be suspended from distinctive A-frame masts on the roof, which eliminate the need for load-bearing walls and columns. This provided fluid, flexible open space within the building, which meant that the interior can be easily rearranged to suit an array of applications.
Rogers noted that a building that is "easy to modify has a longer useful life and uses its resources more efficiently" than one that is fixed. Since KSD was involved in fitting out this building in several different ways for multiple clients and their fluctuating programmatic needs over the years, we wholeheartedly agree with Richard Rogers’ statement!
To further set his design apart, Rogers insisted that the integral building systems, such as its mechanical and plumbing components, should be emphasized rather than hidden. Following this notion, elements were placed in full view on a roof platform within the A-frame spine of
the building. Each system was coded in a different color and routed from the A-frame across the roof to the rest of the building. Like Rogers’ most famous exoskeletal design at Centre Pompidou in Paris, the completed design looked as though it was turned inside-out.
KSD Architects is honored to have worked on such an innovative structure! We felt Richard Rogers' intended design philosophy was maintained while we effectively modified the building to fit varying requirements through the years. The Patcenter and its surrounding campus is now home to one of KSD Architects' longstanding clients that is currently utilizing the facility as their USA Corporate Headquarters.
Below is how the structure looks today.
