"In designing the building, the site was not quite large enough to accommodate two buildings," said Greg Szary, AIA, of Cathers & Associates, Inc. in Malvern, PA. "We had to join them. We needed something interesting. We didn't want a dark interior space."
To solve this dilemma, the team at Cathers & Associates decided to create a courtyard to attach the two structures. "We wanted to make it feel like an outdoor area," said Interiors Director Judy Channick, also of Cathers & Associates, explaining that their first thought was to create a garden with a meandering trail formed by pieces of limestone. "We started to head down that path, [but] a prospective tenant came and wanted to use it as a meeting room and overflow [area] for lunch. It had to be more functional."