JCA participated in, and won a keenly competed bid that resulted in the EXXONMOBIL HOUSE building as it is known today. Designed for Mobil Oil Nigeria Ltd, the concept was driven by the client’s international workplace space standards, which determined the amount of space to be allocated to each grade of staff. A 900mm grid was adopted to accommodate waffle slab construction so offices were multiples of that, with, for instance, a standard office being 3.6m by 3.6m.
The functional floor plate was divided into four sections, creating a square tower with an atrium in the middle. These four wings are connected by four circular towers that accommodate the lift lobby, fire escapes and toilets. There is an external walkway around the atrium.
In order to minimize obstruction of the structure on the functional floor plate, perimeter columns are located on the outside. This attribute is one of the trademarks of James Cubitt Architects. The building is of a waffle slab construction without suspended ceilings, removing the possibility of deteriorating suspended ceilings over the life of the building. Air-conditioning ductwork and electrical cabling is accommodated in dropped bulkheads over circulation routes and perimeter ducting below the windowsills.
There are ten floors to this building, which in reality is a twelve storey building. The two additional floors comprise the undercroft parking and the top floor that accommodates the air handling units.
A sculpture court was created in the middle of the building and this was populated as a result of an agreement reached with the National Museum to display some of her artefacts. These were pieces of art, numbering over a hundred, from different parts of the country. In addition to this creativity and beautification of the building, calabashes from Ile-Ife, Nigeria were strung together and hung vertically on nine strings from the atrium glazed roof. Each string had a total of sixty calabashes on it. This was a bold and uncommon move that made the building stand out as an African building.
A carpet designed to JCA’s specifications, woven in Lagos by a Nigerian carpet company was specially ordered to be laid put in the offices and it is worth noting that even after the building was renovated 25 years later, the carpets were retained. That speaks volumes about the top notch quality the James Cubitt Architects team bring on board to all our projects.
