Following last week’s visit to San Francisco-based JENSEN Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Chicago this week to explore the work of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture.
From their studios across Chicago and Beijing, the firm operates along an ethos “dedicated to the design of high-performance, energy-efficient and sustainable architecture on an international scale.” Among the firm’s varied portfolio across mixed-use complexes, corporate offices, and cultural architecture, are a series of significant tall and super-tall towers across the world; projects which recently formed the basis of a book by the firm titled Supertall | Megatall: How High Can We Go?
Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions to join their Chicago office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four landmark tall towers by AS+GG that exemplify the studio’s ethos.
Located on Billionaire’s Row, Central Park Tower has become one of New York City’s most recognizable structures since its completion in 2021. Wrapped in rippled floor-to-ceiling blue-glass curtain walls, the 131-floor, 179-unit complex stands as the tallest residential building in the world at 1,550 feet tall.
The base of the tower is occupied by a seven-story Nordstrom department store covering 300,000 square feet, while the 16th floor contains a 63-foot indoor swimming pool. In 2022, we reported on the development that one of the penthouses in AS+GG’s Central Park Tower sold for a record $250 million, alongside the project’s honoring at the AIA Chicago’s 2022 Design Excellence Award and the 2021 Emporis Skyscraper Award.
The Jeddah Tower first appeared on Archinect in 2011 with the ambition of becoming the world’s tallest building. Once completed, the $1.2 billion tower is projected to stand slightly over 1 kilometer (3,280 feet) in total height, featuring a luxury hotel, office space, services apartments, luxury condominiums, and the world’s highest observatory. According to AS+GG, the scheme’s design revolves around a “slender, subtly asymmetrical massing” that “evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground.”
Progress had been halted in January of 2018 over labor shortages and was further delayed by the pandemic, with the scheme currently sitting at one-third completion according to MEED. However, in September of last year, we reported that the Jeddah Economic Company had restarted work on the tower, inviting contractors to bid for the project.
The Shenzhen-Hong Kong International Center forms part of the wider Shimao Shenzhen Longgang Master Plan, which AS+GG designed as part of a successful competition entry in 2019. The tower's “anthropomorphic” design is an abstract representation of “the athletes that train and struggle to have the opportunity to perform in the world-class stadiums, arenas, and natatorium directly adjacent to and integrated into the overall AS+GG master plan for this project,” AS+GG Design Partner Adrian Smith said in a statement at the time.
The top of the tower will include a performance space combined with one of the world's highest observations and club facilities like a restaurant, night club, spa, and a grand swimming pool, all of which will provide views of Shenzhen and beyond, Smith describes. Surrounding the tower will be a mixed-use district that includes a five-star hotel, offices, conference facilities, a cultural center, and a main library, all connected by landscaped promenades.
AS+GG broke ground on 832 Brickell in 2019, which was designed in collaboration with interiors firm Iosa Ghini Associati. The 724-foot commercial tower will span 57 stories, making it the second tallest office tower in Miami-Dade County according to the Miami Herald. Amenities within the tower include a rooftop restaurant and two-story bar on the 56th and 57th floors, alongside a 30th-floor sky lobby with a health and wellness center and conference facility.
“The tower has impressive panoramic ocean and city views, floor-to-ceiling windows, and column-free spans,” AS+GG says about the scheme. “The progressive environmentally efficient design will reach LEED Silver certification and features a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure with Wired certification.”
Meet Your Next Employer is one of a number of ongoing weekly series showcasing the opportunities available on our industry-leading job board. Our Job Highlights series looks at intriguing and topical employment opportunities currently available on Archinect Jobs, while our weekly roundups curate job opportunities by location, career level, and job description.
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