Compaq (HP) Building

Our office, in partnership with architect Avi Rosenberg, won an architectural competition for the design

of the digital corporation management building in Israel, which moved to the Ra’anana industrial zone.

The company was bought by Compaq Corporation (currently owned by HP) and the building was built

to serve as the company’s headquarters in Israel. The Compaq (HP) building includes the company’s

offices and a supporting logistics infrastructure for the company’s products in Israel. This infrastructure

includes a server center, training center for employees, and laboratories for the repair of laptop

computers, the company’s main product at the time.

The building was built at a distance from any existing urban fabric and was therefore planned as an

independent “small city”. The formal structure creates a vehicle entrance courtyard surrounded by

palm trees that serve as the entrance into the building and the underground parking lot.

The entrance connects to an atrium space opening into an internal courtyard used as a rest area

for employees. The courtyard is flanked on both sides by functions that exceed the building itself.

On the south side is the training center’s lecture theater, and on the north side is the building’s refectory.

Both of these functions use the courtyard as an extension and a possibility for outdoor recreation.

Citrus trees were planted in the courtyard as an extension of the surrounding orchards on the outskirts

of Ra’anana. The Compaq (HP) building was planned as an efficient open space building measuring

33 meters deep and 60 meters long. A typical floor has a compact nucleus, floor circulation

surrounding it, and a flexible system of work stations between the nucleus and the external envelope.

In this building, we used, for the first time in Israel, terracotta tiles in a color resembling that of the red

soil typical of the orchards.

Client:        Compaq Cooperation (Digital)

Location:    Ra’anana industrial zone

Area:           10,000 square meters