Archinect - News

SOM breaks ground on new 53-story office project in Shenzhen

2024-10-16T15:11:00-04:00

Another important new project for Shenzhen—the SOM-designed CIMC Global Headquarters—just broke ground on its path to a 2029 completion. By that time, the 53-story, 886-foot tower will begin welcoming the first of its 60,000 anticipated daily users. Located in the Qianhai commercial district, the design targets both LEED and WELL Platinum certifications.

SOM (currently hiring for three project manager positions on Archinect Jobs) also recently broke ground on the $336 million new NJPAC redevelopment scheme with Weiss/Manfredi in Newark, New Jersey.

Image: Atchain © SOM

REX previews copper facade screen for Brisbane office tower

2024-09-26T11:48:00-04:00

REX has posted a preview of a forthcoming new 205 North Quay office project in Brisbane. The firm is coming off a banner year in which its $500 million Perelman Performing Arts Center, which features its own unique facade made from marble combined into insulated glazing, won several major honors in New York and internationally. The $600 million North Quay project tops out at 37 stories and is scheduled to make its debut in Australia's third-largest city by mid-2025.

RIOS’ 42XX office design introduces mass timber architecture to L.A.’s Westside

2024-09-16T16:42:00-04:00

A CLT structural system is one of several sustainability considerations integral to RIOS’ newly completed 42XX mixed-used project that landed on the Westside of Los Angeles earlier this summer.

Image credit: Pavel Bendov, ArchExplorer

Located in Marina del Rey, the new 151,000-square-foot development includes three buildings and an offsetting landscape program that can sequester roughly a third of the total embodied emissions of the structure.

Image credit: Pavel Bendov, ArchExplorer

The architects say the redevelopment of the 3-acre formerly industrial site into a new campus replete with EV-charging stations, bike parking spaces, a retail component, and a cris-crossing series of catwalks joins a conversation with other mass timber projects around L.A. County such as 843 N Spring Street in Chinatown and the Billie Jean King Main Library in Long Beach.

Image credit: Pavel Bendov, ArchExplorer

The linear park it created includes 12,000 square feet of landscaping and 33 mature trees mean...

Herzog & de Meuron's mass timber HORTUS project advances in Switzerland

2024-08-27T12:13:00-04:00

The new mass timber HORTUS office project from Herzog & de Meuron is advancing towards completion in Allschwil, Switzerland. Construction will yield 600 workplaces and be fully offset after 31 years in use. The firm says it is “one of the most sustainable office buildings in the German-speaking world.”

Pelli Clarke & Partners completes 57-story Salesforce Tower in Chicago

2024-05-30T17:53:00-04:00

Pelli Clarke & Partners has completed work on their new Salesforce Tower project at Chicago's Wolf Point mixed-use development. The 852-foot tower is the final piece of the 15-year puzzle that transforms a four-acre portion of waterfront between the Riverwalk and Merchandise Mart and boasts a total of 1.2 million square feet of offices for the technology giant and leading national law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

Photo by Jason O'Rear

"It has been a privilege to shape the transformation of Wolf Point and contribute to the design of Chicago’s iconic skyline for nearly 15 years," Partner Darin Cook said of their second commercial project for the Windy City. "We have long been inspired by Chicago’s rich architectural tradition and history of innovation. In creating Salesforce Tower, we designed a tower that reaches boldly skyward, is imbued with lightness, and takes a sculptural form."

Photo by Jason O'Rear

Featuring an internal floor plate configuration that enables a max...

David Chipperfield’s K-Project corporate headquarters breaks ground in Seoul

2024-05-14T12:53:00-04:00

David Chipperfield Architects has just broken ground on a new corporate headquarters project for a South Korean IT company in Seoul. Construction for the new K-Project will advance toward a late 2027 completion and culminate in a new highly adaptable design that doubles as a piece of “social infrastructure” for the city’s Seongsu district.

Chipperfield says: “The energy and culture of the company occupying the building, and that of the diverse neighbourhood in which it is located are used to define a strong identity for the headquarters both visually through its dynamic façades and programmatically through a multi-use atrium.”

Rendering: Artefactory Lab, DCA, Brick

Programmatically, the concept works by traversing ‘Hardware’ and ‘Software’ layers vertically supported by eight vertical cylindrical cores, which lift the office component above a two-level ‘multiplex’ for retail and culture. This is the firm’s second corporate commission in Seoul after the completed Amorepacific Headqua...

Foster + Partners tops out Shenzhen skyscraper inspired by rock formations and paper folding

2024-04-15T13:50:00-04:00

The Foster + Partners-designed China Merchants Bank Headquarters in Shenzhen has topped out. The office tower forms part of a wider mixed-use development, which, when completed, will form a “new city quarter” in Shenzhen.

Image credit: zhangchao via Foster + Partners

Externally, the tower is clad in glass and stainless steel, the result of an “iterative modeling process to minimize the energy consumption of active systems by carefully balancing solar shading, daylight and thermal loads,” according to the team. The tower’s north facade is inspired by rock formations in China with stacked bays varying in height, while the south-facing facade is inspired by the geometries of traditional paper folding.

Image credit: zhangchao via Foster + Partners

“The new tower is a unique addition to Shenzhen’s urban fabric and will be an enduring symbol of China Merchants Bank,” Foster + Partners Head of Studio Grant Brooker said about the scheme. “The building’s wide curved windows offer spectacular v...

Büro Ole Scheeren realizes The Axiom high-rise design in Shanghai

2024-04-02T15:37:00-04:00

Büro Ole Scheeren has announced the completion of their latest high-rise design in Shanghai, called The Axiom. The 918-foot, 49-story tower is the first of two that will eventually form the heart of a mixed-use corporate campus known as The Springs on a central site in the Yangpu district for developer Tishman Speyer.

The design is punctuated midway by a striking offset structural core, which, according to the firm, is unique to just 3% of the 500 tallest buildings in the world.

Image: © Büro Ole Scheeren

Founder Ole Scheeren describes: “The Axiom is an emblem of the innovation that is now synonymous with Shanghai and forms an elegant urban landmark as the gateway to Yangpu District. Designed as a strategic hybrid of functionalism and iconicity, the twin towers represent the fluidity and dynamism of the future-oriented businesses they will accommodate.”

Image: © Büro Ole Scheeren

Rising from a shared podium base called the Culture Gate that connects to the surrounding development’s ...

Is the architectural design causing serious Wi-Fi issues at Google's new Bay View headquarters?

2024-03-26T17:28:00-04:00

Google has not publicly disclosed the reasons for the Wi-Fi problems, but workers say the 600,000-square-foot building’s swooping, wave-like rooftop swallows broadband like the Bermuda Triangle. [...] But, a Google spokeswoman acknowledged, "we’ve had Wi-Fi connectivity issues in Bay View." She said Google "made several improvements to address the issue," and the company hoped to have a fix in coming weeks.

The roof of the BIG and Heatherwick Studio-designed Bay View headquarters, which opened in 2022, is a key component of the building’s circular design strategy and features 90,000 "dragonscale" solar panels. Some believe they could be causing the interference.

Related on Archinect: Google's BIG + Heatherwick-designed Bay View HQ campus opens. Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

The other culprit would be the building’s internal layout and configuration and the density of routers within it (H/t various Reddiors). Google would not publically address the source of the connectivity issues.

Operations at the company's other new headquarters inside the St. John’s Terminal in Manhattan, which opened in February, however, appear to be running a bit more smoothly.

Foster + Partners replaces MAD on Hollywood office tower design

2024-03-20T18:59:00-04:00

Foster + Partners has been revealed as the architects of a replacement design that will take the place of the previous MAD Architects-produced The Star scheme at 6061 W Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

The newly proposed $1 billion "vertical creative office" is meant as an office for tenants in Hollywood's creative content industries.

Renderings for the replacement design showcase a high-rise structure with 360-degree views provided by its cylindrical form and punctured by a diagonal schism that contains biophilic elements and gathering spaces ribboning around the building's volume in three bands. A rooftop restaurant culminates the design at its uppermost floor.

Rendering courtesy Foster + Partners

The new proposal demarcates considerably from the original $500 million MAD design, which called for 22 stories of vertical gardens to be contained by a glass canopy. The rest of the program includes a ground-level LED video screen, an "arched paseo of restaurants," community gathering sp...

SOM's tapering Star River Headquarters project completes in Guangzhou

2024-03-20T17:49:00-04:00

SOM has unveiled the newly completed Star River Headquarters project in Guangzhou, China, which it says is emblematic of the city’s late transformation into a national destination for trade and cultural tourism.

The 918-foot-tall office tower was realized at Pazhou Island and anchors a new block-size development that is helping to revitalize the city’s traditional hub for commerce and financial services.

Image: © Seth Powers/SOM

SOM says its design "represents a new class of office buildings" that are currently reshaping Guangzhou, joining the new Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce and Sany IROOTECH Headquarters from 2020 and 2025, respectively.

Image: © Seth Powers/SOM

From a distance, the tower's tapered parabolic silhouette stands prominently above a landscaped public plaza area and retail establishments below, utilizing a pleated effect that enables unique possibilities for the interplay of light and shadow on its facade.

Image: © Seth Powers/SOM

Vertical mullions running the length...

Gensler will overhaul JPMorgan Chase's aging Chicago headquarters in the South Loop

2024-02-27T18:36:00-05:00

Gensler has unveiled plans for a major renovation of JPMorgan Chase’s 55-year-old Chicago headquarters in the South Loop that will transform the building into a new state-of-the-art workplace aimed at fostering collaboration and ushering the bank’s over 14,500 local employees into what the company calls the “future of work.”

The 60-story tower was originally designed by C.F. Murphy Associates and Perkins&Will and currently is home to 7,200 workers.

Image: © Gensler/courtesy of JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase says they want an environment for the bank's employees that is centered around health and wellness considerations. According to their press announcement, the project's scope includes:

Refreshed and interconnected, plaza, lobby and mezzanine with updated food hall, enhanced dining seating and collaboration spaces, modernized lobby entry experience, and mezzanine level common space with robust café experience.
Refurbished work floors with state-of-the-art technology and furniture, up...

Google NYC's new adaptive-reuse HQ design by Gensler and COOKFOX opens at Hudson Square

2024-02-27T12:52:00-05:00

Google’s brand new New York City headquarters inside St. John’s Terminal at Hudson Square has opened following the completion of a five-year and $2.1 billion project designed by COOKFOX Architects and Gensler.

The renovation of the two-block-long former rail terminus yields a total of 1.3 million square feet of new offices. Another nine stories were added above the existing structure. The building will house some 3,000 employees of the tech giant, who said in a blog post that its design is responsive to a research-driven office strategy and supports a new workplace model that’s meant to foster greater collaboration, creativity, and growth.

Image: courtesy of Google

After restoring the original three floors remaining from its peak usage in the 1930s, the design team created a welcoming space defined by an exterior cut facade detailed on its northern side with reused rail beds that had been leftovers and are kept semi-exposed to create a visible linkage between past and present.

Image...

Foster + Partners completes South Carolina administrators building behind warm-colored metal and glass

2024-01-19T12:02:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has completed a new home for Greenville County administrators in South Carolina. The new Greenville County Administration Building spans four stories and is designed with a glass curtain wall that “symbolically removes the boundary between the public and government officials.”

Photo: Brandon Stengel, courtesy of Foster + Partners

The scheme forms part of the wider Greenville County Square master plan by RocaPoint Partners, which seeks to create a link between Falls Park, Cancer Survivor’s Park, and the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The administration building, described by the team as “the cornerstone of the community,” is located on the corner of Church Street and University Ridge.

Photo: Brandon Stengel, courtesy of Foster + Partners

“The building will make a significant contribution to Greenville County, acting as a place for local people to meet in serene natural surro...

Zaha Hadid Architects completes Prague high-rise development with cascading terraces

2023-12-20T11:53:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has designed a high-rise building in the Czech Republic adjacent to one of Prague’s major railway stations. Named Masaryčka, the scheme has been envisioned as “a welcoming gateway to the city for suburban and domestic rail passengers as well as those using the express rail link that is currently under construction to Prague’s international airport.”

Image credit: BoysPlayNice

According to the architects, the complex’s form is designed to establish a dialogue with the architecture and urbanism of Prague’s Old Town. Containing office and retail uses, the 300,000-square-foot development incorporates seven stories within its eastern section and nine stories at its western end.

Image credit: BoysPlayNice

On the exterior, fins within the double-skin facade contribute to solar shading in the summer and “transform the project’s horizontal composition to the verticality of its western facade facing the spires of the Old Town.” A cascade of terraces divides the development...

SOM completes restoration of Lever House, a midcentury Manhattan office icon

2023-11-17T15:14:00-05:00

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has announced the completion of a recent restoration project that’s meant to breathe new life into their historic Lever House design in Manhattan.

The scope of their work entailed the creation of a new lobby, ground-level public plaza, installation of an entirely new modernized building system, and 15,000-square-foot Lever Club hospitality suite in addition to redesigned interior spaces from Marmol Radziner.

Image: Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM

The brief called for repairs affecting the material character of the building (terrazzo flooring, refinished exterior columns, and a glass mosaic tile wall) and fixes to water-damaged ceilings. Reed Hilderbrand has also contributed a comprehensive new landscape program for the building that connects the plaza area to third-floor terraces. Costs for the project were around $100 million.

Image: Lucas Blair Simpson © SOM

“This renovation brings Lever House into the 21st century,” SOM Partner Chris Cooper said in a statement...

UNStudio's edgy Eclipse office design opens in Düsseldorf

2023-11-16T14:56:00-05:00

UNStudio has completed work on a new office building for the German operation of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Düsseldorf.

Their vision for a new ‘vertical work campus‘ concept was realized with support from the local firm HPP Architekten. The firms say their main intent for the Eclipse project was to “foster interaction and to inspire creativity by providing an inspirational and attractive work environment for today’s talent.” The 196-foot-tall building includes 290,600 square feet of office space for around 1,200 workplaces across a total of 16 stories.

Image: © H.G. Esch

The design of Eclipse resolves space on a difficult site by positioning a triangular volume above a two-story podium. Its 360-degree facade orients to the neighboring Hilton Hotel at its south elevation while the northern-facing side is established parallel to Kennedydamm, the main motor vehicle thoroughfare leading to the center of the city.

Image: © H.G. Esch

The form and fenestration of the tower give it a uni...

KPF’s tapered Tower 36 wins approval in Miami

2023-10-30T13:50:00-04:00

The design of KPF’s Tower 36 has been approved by the Miami Urban Development Review Board. Developed in collaboration with architect of record ODP Architecture & Design, the 922,000-square-foot tower will hold both office and retail functions.

Image credit: Atchain, courtesy of KPF

Externally, the 635-foot-tall tapered tower is defined by a glass facade containing terraces on all office floors. The terraces have been “arranged in a configuration that conveys a sense of movement across the building” and detailed with light bronze soffit accents.

Image credit: Atchain, courtesy of KPF

At the base of the tower, a podium holds retail spaces, bicycle, and car parking, and a landscaped roof accessed by a restaurant. The podium strikes a curved form, with the ground level cut away at the northeastern corner to reveal a motor court arrival and office lobby entrance.

Image credit: Atchain, courtesy of KPF

“Accentuating the podium’s cantilevered form and open corners, the façade’s layered patte...

OMA's new Toranomon Hills Station Tower opens in Tokyo

2023-10-27T13:48:00-04:00

OMA and Partner Shohei Shigematsu have shared new photos of their just-completed work on the Toranomon Hills Station Tower project for developer Mori Building Co. in Tokyo.

The first high-rise to be completed inside the studio’s larger Toranomon Hills mixed-use district overlooks the terminus of Shintora-dori Avenue, whose axis is extended through a split base containing a Metro station and shopping area. This creates an interface between city and the building that the architects say is essential to their design’s public character, an element that culminates in a top-level cultural center called TOKYO NODE.

Photo: Mori Building Co., Ltd, courtesy of OMA

Photo: Tomoyuki Kusunose, courtesy of OMA

In between the public elements, the total 873-foot tower contains 32 levels of office spaces, a hotel, and two restaurants. Users will approach via an elevated T-Deck pedestrian walkway that connects the site to the surrounding development. Base-level activities are extended vertically in a ban...

BIG completes award-winning The Spiral tower in Manhattan

2023-10-25T19:57:00-04:00

BIG has shared photos to follow the firm’s completion of the new 2.8 million-square-foot The Spiral office tower in Midtown Manhattan.

Located at the entrance to the High Line Park on 34th Street between 10th Avenue and Hudson Boulevard, the 66-story structure rises to a total height of 1,031.5 feet and offers the neighborhood skyline a distinctive new visual identity taken from its stepped silhouette and a ribbon of outdoor terraces that cascade down the setback facade to a street level podium.

Photo © Laurian Ghinitoiu

The design team, which also included Adamson Associates, made wind- and drought-resistant biophilic elements a central part of the building’s exterior, working to unprecedented new heights for commercial high-rises. Certain plant species were selected for their ability to flower as early as February, in combination with evergreen ivy varieties. The program also creates flexible workspaces and includes an exclusive clubhouse on the uppermos...

New photos of Kinzo-designed interiors in Foster + Partners' record-setting MOL Headquarters

2023-10-11T13:36:00-04:00

Archinect has received new photos of Foster + Partners' now in-use MOL Group corporate headquarters tower in Budapest following a public opening that took place in the Hungarian capital earlier this spring. The building's interiors were designed by Berlin-based architecture studio Kinzo Architekten.

The tower was inaugurated in December and is the tallest structure in Hungary, topping out at 469 feet and 28 floors. It joins F+P’s Varso Tower design in Poland, now the EU’s tallest building, as two record-setting constructions that were completed last year. The firm says it is part of their focus to design office spaces that meet contemporary demands from workers and environmental advocates.

Image: © HGEsch

In terms of sustainability, the low and zero-carbon technology offerings include a 900-panel rooftop photovoltaic array, ground source heat pumps, greywater recycling, and a state-of-the-art rainwater harvesting system. Heating and cooling provided by a radiant panel system work to ...

Boston’s new Winthrop Center is now officially the largest Passive House office building in the world

2023-10-06T17:58:00-04:00

The new Winthrop Center in Boston by Handel Architects has just been certified by the Passive House Institute (PHI) as the largest Passive House office design in the world, according to an announcement made Friday by its developer Millennium Partners.

Inaugurated in the spring after a six-year concept and construction phase, the 691-foot mixed-use tower includes 812,000 square feet of Class A office space and another 510,000-square-foot segment with 317 luxury residences within its 52-story design.

The office component of the Center, which earned the PHI designation, incorporates between 30 and 35% more fresh air than a typical commercial design. Millennium Partners shares: "A typical Class A building in Boston’s existing stock uses 150% more energy and existing LEED Platinum buildings in Boston use 60% more energy than Winthrop Center’s office space."

Image courtesy of Millennium Partners.

“With Winthrop Center, we wanted to think beyond the status quo, and we were ready to employ ...

The struggle between green design and architectural history hangs over the renovation of one Bangkok icon

2023-08-11T18:40:00-04:00

A Bangkok landmark known as the “robot building” has been stripped of its identity, heritage campaigners have said, as they called for the city’s distinctive architecture to preserved. [...] Campaigners have urged the bank to find a way to improve energy efficiency while maintaining the facade’s unique design. They say the lack of legal protection for the building underlines the broader need for changes to how sites of special importance are identified and preserved.

The Guardian tells the story of the Sumet Jumsai-designed near-iconic "Robot Building" at the heart of Bangok’s bustling commercial district. The 37-year-old structure has been undergoing renovations at the hands of Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB), irking fans and preservationists who feel its character is being taken away with the wholesale removal of its original facade and, possibly, other key architectural elements which have made it so distinctively part of the capital's visual landscape.

The bank contends its work is necessary for the well-being of employees and to reduce energy consumption. What could result from the fray is a possible change in the structure of preservation, which mostly favors ancient monuments in the country. Air rights can still be sold to developers, which are in part the target of reform efforts. The saga also touches on the need for greater architectural education for the public, an issue which aided in the demise of Tokyo's Nakagin Capsule Towe...

De Zwarte Hond designs flexible timber office park in Amsterdam

2023-06-22T11:30:00-04:00

De Zwarte Hond has designed a timber office building for Dutch energy company Alliander. Located on the Noordzeeweg in Amsterdam Westpoort, the new offices are described as circular and flexible, consisting of workshops, warehouses, test facilities, and educational and park buildings.

Image: Jaques Tillmans Foto Focus / De Zwarte Hond

Sustainability guided the design of the roughly 226,042-square-foot complex, which resulted in high flexibility, scalability, and modularity. Materials such as wood were used as much as possible, and harmful substances like glue, PU foam or sealant were minimized. The parking building’s detached set-up allows it to grow or shrink. In addition, the structure’s façades are made of weather-resistant Corten steel.

Image: Scagliola Brakkee / De Zwarte Hond

The office is gas-free and energy neutral due to approximately 37 square feet of solar panels and thermal energy storage. Its use of timber allowed the project to store 560 tons of carbon dioxide. Much con...

Take a look inside Seoul's National Assembly Communication Building

2023-06-21T13:55:00-04:00

South Korean firm Haeahn Architecture, alongside New York-based H Architecture, has shared a video and photographs of their National Assembly Communication Building project in Seoul, South Korea.

The nearly 255,686-square-foot structure is located inside the National Assembly complex, the home of South Korea’s national legislature.

Image: Namsun Lee

The complex was planned as an open space that reflects a pluralistic ideology, while also staying in touch with the existing components of the site. To meet the needs of multiple user groups, the architects say the building’s design prioritizes flexibility and expandability.

Image: Namsun Lee

The project site was described as a green space surrounded by lush trees. The firms aimed to preserve this identity by making the building low and on a human scale, ensuring its height would not exceed four stories and be set amongst the trees. The rooftop also reflects these surroundings through the featured green zone.

Image: Namsun Lee

The archit...

A perforated brick facade wraps Tropical Space’s new Ho Chi Minh City office building

2023-06-13T11:42:00-04:00

Vietnam-based architecture practice Tropical Space has completed an office building in Ho Chi Minh City featuring perforated brick walls. Named Premier Office, the scheme was developed with attention to maximizing natural light throughout the rental office spaces without exposing the interior to intense direct sunlight.

Photo credit: Trieu Chien

The building is anchored by a central void rising to the full height of the interior, allowing natural light and airflow across the property. On one side of the central void are the office spaces, where two facades can open to capture sunlight and ventilation. The other side of the void accommodates restrooms, storage, and circulation spaces. “By connecting the void between the corridors and empty spaces, both vertically and horizontally, the building can create moving light areas and space displacement during the day,” the design team explains.

Photo credit: Trieu Chien

While supported by a co...

UNStudio refurbishes former banking HQ in Eindhoven

2023-04-11T17:55:00-04:00

UNStudio has just unveiled a completed redesign of a former bank headquarters building called Fellenoord 15 in the Dutch city of Eindhoven.

The project transformed the former Rabobank HQ into a 32,000-square-meter (344,440-square-foot) governmental facility equipped with the latest building management technology and capable of hosting more flexible work concepts that are better constituted for the demands of our century.

The building before its transformation. Image: Studio Hans Wilschut

The completed building following the redesign. Image: Studio Hans Wilschut

Taking the shell of the existing building, UNStudio says they were able to save roughly 40% of the CO2 footprint required by new construction. Its design enables the use of a new public space between the building’s entrance and the adjacent bus station. A series of high-tech sensors decreases energy consumption while increasing the efficiency of workers’ use of the building through data.

Image: Evabloem

Geotherma...

Foster + Partners completes flexible office complex in Luxembourg

2023-01-26T14:45:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has completed a new office complex in Belval, Luxembourg that promotes flexible and collaborative working environments. Called ICÔNE, the 202,362-square-foot structure is filled with light and greenery, cultivating a safe, spacious atmosphere while referencing the rich industrial heritage of Belval. The project aims to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

ICÔNE’s location is described as a new city quarter that combines research, education, leisure, and commerce. The complex relates to the scale of the neighboring buildings, along with the varying characteristics of the surrounding streets. Its entrances are oriented differently in response to Porte de France, the main urban street to the west, and the Place de l’Académie to the east. These entrances will be enlivened by new shops, cafés, and restaurants.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

“We are delighted to celebrate the opening of this landmark project for Belval, which we began des...

Foster + Partners completes Budapest’s tallest building

2022-12-13T12:23:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has shared photos of its just-finished MOL Group corporate headquarters campus in Budapest after a ribbon-cutting ceremony that was held last week in the Hungarian capital.

At 143 meters (469 feet), the design is a collaboration with Finta Studio and now the city’s tallest construction with space for 2,500 employees of the energy company in addition to two restaurants, a 29th-floor observation deck, gym, and visitors center.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

The interior floor plans are designed for maximum flexibility following the Activity-Based Workplace (ABW) model. Finally, its claims to be a “bastion of modern architecture and sustainability” are bolstered by rainwater harvesting capabilities, a greywater recycling system, geothermal heating system, and 900 solar panels.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

“As we see the nature of the workplace changing to a more collaborative vision, we have combined two buildings — a tower and a podium — into a singular form, bo...

3XN debuts an artistic mixed-use design for Paris’ stolid La Défense district

2022-10-28T15:38:00-04:00

3XN has officially debuted its first-ever French design just west of Paris’ La Défense business district in Nanterre.

Featuring a program that combines a traditional office and hotel accommodation through two separate volumes, joined along an east-west axis, that offer views of La Défense’s adjacent towers and Johan Otto von Spreckelsen’s monumental Grande Arche.

“As the first shape you encounter when arriving from La Défense, this building had to be eye-catching and dynamic,” 3XN Founding Partner Kim Herforth Nielsen explains. “The faceted façade and shifting volumes make it a standout in the busy district. The concept — two distinct but complementary designs — is unique in the area.”

Photo: Jared Chulski, courtesy 3XN.

The scheme makes use of semi-reflective aluminum panel cladding to distinguish the Hôtel OKKO as one unbroken massing, while its partner InDéfense office structure splits into smaller forms, extruding to “open the long and narrow si...