Parkridge
This modest medical building says a great deal about Rand Elliott's
work. Taking some of its cues from the enclosed frontier outpost, Parkridge
is a series of textured brick walls surrounding a courtyard planted in
native buffalo grass. This interior space provides necessary protection
from the sun, wind and rain while also serving as a healing garden in
which patients can relax and recover their peace of mind.
The detailing is crisp and understated yet surprisingly rich: textured brick, free-standing metal and glass sunscreens that are both functional and sculptural; deep overhangs and perforated metal screens to shade windows; a glass block wall that admits light but little heat.
Parkridge does not mimic other Elliott + Associates' buildings, yet it clearly springs from the same basic assumptions about place, climate, history and topography. The four slender brick towers give the building a presence along the highway, and also recall the wind cutters on the Morris Agency. Two additional buildings will eventually complete the complex.
