Archinect - News

Makoto Yamaguchi completes Tokyo gaming headquarters with slanting walls and video game metaphors

2024-04-17T11:43:00-04:00

Japanese practice Makoto Yamaguchi Design has completed a headquarters for a game production company in Tokyo inspired by video game elements.

Facing the site of an elevated railway where trains pass on average every 1.5 minutes in both directions, the scheme is defined by slanted walls in response to environmental elements such as light, wind, and sound.

Image credit: Koichi Torimura

Across the building, every slanted wall height is optimized according to the requirements of each floor. The third-floor walls, for example, are increased in height to prevent recording studios from being impacted by external noise. Meanwhile, the height of the slanted walls decreases as the scheme rises to open views of the surrounding city.

Image credit: Koichi Torimura

“The slanted walls protect the interior from the external gaze, making it impossible to tell what the building is for from the outside,” Yamaguchi explains. “Not being able to see the purpose is much the sa...

Three tech giant headquarters by WRNS Studio: Your Next Employer?

2024-04-08T11:23:00-04:00

Following our previous visit to San Francisco-based Richard Beard Architects, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in the city this week to explore the work of WRNS Studio.

Founded in San Francisco in 2005, the firm operates across three principles: beauty, sustainability, and a positive contribution to the public realm. “We established our studio to provide a platform upon which we could freely explore our ideas and craft,” co-founder Sam Nunes told our Studio Snapshot series back in 2020. “We wanted to be a part of the community of architects seeking to redefine the relationship between the built and the natural environments and between the private and public realms.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for several positions to join their San Francisco office. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up three headquarters for well-known tech companies by WRNS Studi...

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.

OMA debuts PRINCIPLES Square collection for Perth Design Week

2024-03-14T19:28:00-04:00

Photos of the central hub for Perth Design Week, the eight-day event taking place now in the Western Australia capital, have been revealed by OMA to go along with the start of festivities.

Their colorful design for PRINCIPLES Square is located inside Cathedral Square in Perth's city center and features the Australian debut of the firm's office furniture collaboration with UniFor, which first premiered at Milan Design Week in 2022.

Intended as the main gathering space for Design Week, the concept creates a variety of socializing and spatial scenarios. For the event's second edition, no less than 20 events will be hosted there. Philippe Braun, the project's associate-in-charge, told the press that its realization "stimulated us to further explore how the collection can be applied beyond the typical."

Photography by Frans Parthesius, courtesy OMA

OMA says of the arrangement: "PRINCIPLES Square is the manifestation of the potential of the collection. The installation takes advantage of ...

Safdie Architects completes integrated Surbana Jurong Campus in Singapore

2024-03-14T17:18:00-04:00

Safdie Architects has just announced the completion of their Surbana Jurong Campus project in Singapore. The 742,000-square-foot design for the Surbana Jurong corporation aims to establish a better work-life balance for employees while connecting to its natural rainforest setting.

The design brief calls for elevating ten pavilions of five and seven stories apiece along a linear arch to allow plantings to grow up from beneath and eventually envelop the offices, creating a "treehouse" effect for its users. Architects say this provides an alternative to "traditional, internally focused buildings." Charu Kokate, a Senior Partner at Safdie Architects, said the design "was guided most essentially by the people whose work and lives intersect there."

Photo by Timothy Hursley, courtesy of Safdie Architects

As such, the project features a selection of workplace wellness considerations meant to stimulate socialization, increase creativity, ...

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...

How Architecture Firms Should Design Their Workplace: Harvard Online Course

2024-02-13T14:52:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education

While many fields have acclimatized to hybrid ways of working, architecture and design firms have encountered persistent challenges in making this transition.

Harvard GSD’s online course Designing the Creative & Collaborative Workplace: Space, Technology, and Culture looks at the unique spaces, technology, and culture shaping the creative workplace to help creative teams answer the question: “How will we redesign our workplace and the way we work?”

This discussion will be informed by research done by Jacob Reidel seeking to understand how architects have designed new ways of practicing in direct response to the upheaval of recent years.

Image courtesy Harvard GSD Executive Education.

Divided into three modules — Spaces, Technology, and Culture — the course will use a scaffolded approach to provide participants, regardless of background, with the resources to take actionable steps towards transformi...

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...

MVRDV completes colorful HAUS 1 office conversion in Berlin

2023-12-04T14:24:00-05:00

MVRDV has completed work on a vibrant new conversion project in Berlin called HAUS 1 that reworked an aging office building from 1997 into a new hub for innovation and community.

Other than the eye-catching canary color finish, the project is visually dominated by an extended grand external staircase. A new terraced timber pavilion space is enacted on the rooftop, completed by an arrangement of native plants and constructed using a palette of bio-based materials. Inside, floorplans are altered to maximize flexibility. Other important aspects of the design include low-temperature underfloor heating and a rainwater harvesting system that will help the building to function sustainably year-round.

Photo © Lukas Drobny

MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs says: “The newly transformed HAUS 1 is more than a gateway to this unique campus devoted to impact. It is a representation of the Atelier Gardens community and their commitment to chart a different vision of society...

Foster + Partners' 270 Park Avenue replacement tops out in Manhattan

2023-11-21T20:00:00-05:00

A celebration was held this week to mark the official topping out of the new 60-story JPMorgan Chase headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Designed by Foster + Partners to feature the latest approaches ascendant in post-pandemic workplace design, the building is beset with flexible office configurations and wellness spaces.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

The project was undertaken with a fair amount of controversy, as several preservation groups and AIANY had lobbied heavily in favor of preserving its SOM-designed predecessor, known by its original title, the Union Carbide Building.

Foster + Partners hopes the new building will follow its lead to become an equally revolutionary contribution to American office design.

Image courtesy Foster + Partners

Norman Foster said: “In 1811, when this site was countryside, the city commissioners created a master plan for New York. It was bold, innovative, and reflected an optimism for the future. Today, over two hundred years later, th...

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...

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 ...

PAU-designed The Refinery at Domino reopens Brooklyn's most iconic building to the modern workplace

2023-09-27T15:25:00-04:00

A landmark era of high-profile additions and architectural changes to the historic Brooklyn waterfront has ushered in a new chapter with today’s official public unveiling of the PAU-designed The Refinery at Domino office component at the 11-acre former Domino Sugar Factory site in Williamsburg.

The new, 15-story glass commercial space was constructed inside the building’s old brick masonry shell, offering tenants 460,000 square feet of Class A office space enhanced by carefully-inserted biophilic elements and marked by the firm’s attenuation to ascendant health and wellness considerations typical in modern workplace design.

Photo: Max Touhey

A 12-foot gap left between the new and old structures provides space for Field Operations’s 17-count in-house arboretum while standardizing a misalignment with the floors and helping to flood the bonetti/kozerski-designed office interiors with natural light and expanded access to vegetation throughout the day.

Photo: Max Touhey

A vaulted 27,000-s...

Zaha Hadid Architects designs Xi’an tower with ‘gently curving silhouette’

2023-08-08T12:26:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has released images of their proposed Daxia Tower in Xi’an, China. The tower will form part of the city’s high-tech zone, which is repositioning the city from its historic Silk Road roots to become a “major hub for new technology.”

Image credit: ATCHAIN, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

The 700-foot-tall tower will contain over 1.3 million square feet of offices, retail, and ancillary facilities. The scheme’s “gently curving silhouette” is accentuated by layers of patterned glazing and large atriums to increase natural light volumes internally. Each atrium creates a “cascade of planted interior terraces that echo mountainside waterfalls,” while also offering views of the historic city and high-tech zone.

Image credit: ATCHAIN, courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects

“Optimizing natural daylighting and ventilation using high-performance low-emissivity, unitized glazing with a thermal coating and insulated for low U-values to reduce energy demand and enhance efficiencie...

UNStudio completes Booking.com City Campus HQ in Amsterdam

2023-06-28T14:39:00-04:00

A new HQ project from UNStudio for the Dutch travel site Booking.com has opened in Amsterdam, offering a dynamic central location it says will serve as a “recruitment machine” while creating a more inclusive, healthy, and socially engaging experience for the company’s 6,500 employees.

Video courtesy UNStudio on Vimeo.

Designed to maximize connectivity for its users and visitors to the campus’ Oosterdokseiland location, the nearly 700,000-square-foot plan creates a highly-visible, activities-laden consolidation of disparate office locations that, for over a decade, had been spread throughout the city.

Image: © Hufton + Crow

Anchored by a striking main building made of glass and steel and sited on a double-height plinth that creates an urban element underneath and around a cantilevered overhang, the development was influenced by years of research into comparable corporate headquarters and engenders a “platform for human activity,” the architects say.

Image: © Hufton + Crow

A network o...

Gensler survey reveals the ways Gen Z workers are being drawn back to the office

2023-06-23T18:03:00-04:00

Remote work is second nature for Generation Z, many of whom graduated college and started careers during the pandemic. And yet, many are now transitioning to in-person work as they look for more workplace connections, learning opportunities and socialization with coworkers. That means figuring out what kind of workspace environment will keep Gen Z workers interested, is becoming a higher priority.

According to the 2023 Global Workplace Survey Comparison by Gensler, there has been a sudden split, spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, in the workplace preferences for Gen Z workers compared to older generations.

To start, the findings reveal that Gen Z workers place more value on learning and socializing at work, along with flexibility. Essentially this means that younger workers value having a variety of experiences in the workplace. These experiences include having both private and collaborative spaces, made possible by open, changeable layouts, access to more amenities, and having more in-person, social interactions.

The survey has found that younger workers are being drawn towards offices and away from remote work due to the accessibility of leadership and continued education that could help drive career growth. Some companies looking to adapt to meet these evo...

Zaha Hadid Architects on using AI in workplace design

2023-06-15T13:01:00-04:00

Zaha Hadid Architects has offered The New York Times an insight into how the firm has deployed artificial intelligence in workplace design. Times writer Farah Nayeri spoke with Arjun Kaicker and Ulrich Blum from Zaha Hadid Analytics + Insights (ZHAI) which uses data and artificial intelligence to design workplaces.

“The pandemic has really supercharged innovation in the workplace,” Kaicker told the paper, noting that before 2020, “the majority of office buildings had a one-size-fits-all desk for everyone, and the same environment around them, the same everything.”

Blum shared that ZHAI possessed a computer tool that, within 27 hours, could generate 100,000 designs for a building interior — a feat which would take an architect a decade to deliver if producing 40 drawings per day. The team cited the firm’s Infinitus Plaza in Guangzhou, China, which saw AI deployed to generate options for positioning the bui...

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...

Five unique workspace projects by ShubinDonaldson: Your Next Employer?

2023-05-22T13:28:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Culver City-based Johnson Favaro, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in California this week to explore the work of ShubinDonaldson.

Led by partners Russell Shubin, Robin Donaldson, and Mark Hershman, the firm comprises 40 staff spread across offices in Culver City, Santa Barbara, and Orange County. Describing their approach as being “informed by modernism, craft, and a culture of experimentation,” the firm’s portfolio spans mixed-use, workplace, retail, multifamily, and custom residential typologies.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring a Project Coordinator for commercial projects to join its Culver City office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five workplaces by ShubinDonaldson that demonstrate their design approach.

3101 West Coast Highway

Located at Mariner’s Mile in Newport Beach, CA, ShubinDonaldson’s project a...

Five creative workplace interiors by Float Studio: Your Next Employer?

2023-04-17T12:46:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to New York-based S9 Architecture, we are using this week’s edition of our Meet Your Next Employer series to explore the work of fellow New York firm Float Studio.

From their office on West 25th Street in Manhattan, the full-service interiors firm specializes in designing creative spaces for start-ups and tech companies. “Every company has a unique story, which can be told through the design of their workspace,” the firm says about its mission. “We help tell that story, and create spaces for our clients to make great things happen.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Summer Design Intern to join their New York office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five creative workspaces by Float Studio that demonstrates their design ethos.

Casper HQ

Completed in 2016, the Float-designed Casper HQ consists of 34,000 square feet of renovated...

Moody’s declares pre-1980s office buildings ‘obsolete’ due to conversion costs

2023-04-07T15:18:00-04:00

A new report from Moody’s Analytics is further dampening CRE prospects for the near future after declaring all office structures built before 1980 to be “obsolete” in terms of their abilities to lure back tenants in the face of an ongoing national downtown decline.

Speaking to MarketWatch recently, the ratings agency’s Nick Villa said buildings built before that date are obsolete because “generally speaking, if there were no significant renovations to the building, the amount of capital required to bring it 'current' and compete in today's market would be costlier.”

Cities like New York and Oklahoma City that maintain a higher share of these buildings may therefore face further economic difficulties as interest rates continue to climb and lending standards tighten.

Previously on Archinect: Zoom Town to Boom Town: North American business districts are going to evolve instead of dying off completely

The end of the pandemic has ushered in a new era of office design, with many new const...

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 landmark 42-story office tower in Shanghai

2023-01-17T10:49:00-05:00

Foster + Partners has completed a 42-story office tower in the regenerated Suhewan area of Shanghai. Named the 'Suhe Centre for China Resources Land,' the 656-foot-tall tower is described by Foster + Partners as “a landmark building that offers truly modern workspaces which prioritize city and park views, comfort, and flexibility.”

Image credit: ZHURUNZI / Foster + Partners

The tower’s structure draws on the industrial aesthetic of the area’s historical Zhejiang Road Bridge and nearby warehouse buildings. A stainless steel structural frame has been pulled away from the tower’s corners to maximize interior views, while dark glazing on the facade reduces reflective glare.

Image credit: ZHURUNZI / Foster + Partners

Inside, the tower’s ground floor lobby contains undulating wall panels to emphasize the space’s 36-foot floor-to-ceiling height, and to “create a grand sense of arrival.” Above the entrance canopy, louvers on the facade create “dancing” shadows across the walls and floor, whil...

HWKN's upcoming commercial tower will bring a 'grade A, sustainability-certified workspace' to London's Canada Water Dockside

2022-12-02T14:24:00-05:00

UK real estate developer Art-Invest has announced Matthias Hollwich and the team at HWKN Architecture will be the designers for a new commercial tower at the Canada Water Dockside in London. The tower will be one of three new commercial buildings built on the 4.5-acre development, which will be master-planned by BIG.

The New York-based studio will make its UK debut by reportedly designing a 1.5 million square feet of "grade A, sustainably-certified" office workspace for up to 10,000 workers. The project includes 100,000 square feet of "affordable offices for small businesses, alongside community spaces and other amenities" located on the building's ground floor.

"Having worked with Matthias [Hollwich] and his team previously we knew his visionary and innovate approach would be well suited to Canada Water Dockside, and we’re delighted to be bringing his architecture to the UK for the first time," Luka Vukotic, the Development Director for Art-Invest, said in a statement.

Image court...

Former LA Times print facility reborn as creative offices by EYRC Architects

2022-10-17T11:35:00-04:00

Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects (EYRC) has completed their adaptive re-use of an abandoned Los Angeles Times print facility in Costa Mesa, Orange County. The 430,000-square-foot scheme titled ‘The Press’ saw the three-story complex converted into flexible office spaces.

Photo credit: Matthew Millman

The grounds surrounding the facility see an existing rail line reincorporated as a bike and pedestrian trial to link with a wider pathway network. Inside, EYRC’s approach to the building’s rehabilitation saw a combination of ‘selectively subtracting’ elements to enhance usability, and the retention of elements to convey the facility’s industrial past.

Photo credit: Matthew Millman

“The subtractive design interventions tie landscape and structure together, suggesting ruins recaptured by nature,” EYRC told Archinect. “What remains is a celebration of both material and organic markers of time, history, and context. Paint chips, rail spurs and conveyor belts were left as-is, and matured t...

'First of its kind' mass timber office extension completed in Washington DC

2022-10-13T13:11:00-04:00

Work has been completed on the 80 M office building in Washington DC. The project, which saw a three-story timber extension added atop an existing seven-story concrete building, is described by the design team as “the first commercial office building in Washington DC to feature a vertical extension constructed using mass timber.”

The 108,000-square-foot addition was designed by architects Hickok Cole with Arup providing mass timber and sustainable building engineering services. Opened in September, the scheme is also the “first high-rise overbuild timber structure in North America” according to the team.

Inside, the extension includes office and amenity spaces with 15-foot-high ceilings and 12-foot-high windows as well as 4,000 square feet of outdoor amenities including a rooftop terrace.

Photo by Ron Blunt for Columbia Property Trust

According to Arup, the scheme’s realization required engagement with “restrictive code requirements” in the United States pertaining to mass timber; ...

DLR Group and Hines collaborate on Chicago's first mass timber office building

2022-09-29T15:41:00-04:00

DLR Group and real estate developer Hines have announced that they are planning to deliver their T3 (Timber, Transit, and Technology) office concept to Chicago.

It will be the city’s first mass timber office building and, as noted in its press release, one of the first timber buildings since the Great Chicago Fire. The site is located along the Chicago River in the city’s North Branch Framework corridor. According to DLR Group, it will support the redevelopment of Chicago’s Goose Island, a 160-acre artificial island in the city’s northwest side.

Image courtesy DLR Group/Hines.

The structure will span six stories and 270,000 square feet, including spaces for work/life balance through common lounges, bike storage, a fitness center, and ground-floor retail. The building will also include private balconies and a communal rooftop deck.

A T3 building and residential space in Austin, Texas. Image courtesy DLR Group.

“T3 Goose Island will help turn the neighborhood into a top destination f...

Related Companies expands into Austin with a pair of new office projects from Gensler and KPF

2022-09-19T12:39:00-04:00

The ever-changing skyline of Texas’ eccentric state capital is getting another pair of new additions after Hudson Yards developer Related Companies announced plans this month for two new separate Austin office buildings designed by Gensler and KPF.

Related says both projects will be located in South Austin and are slated to be completed in 2024 and 2025 respectively. The larger 15-story One Ladybird Lake tower is designed by KPF for a 3.3-acre plot located along the waterfront at the city’s Lady Bird Lake reservoir. Its total 475,000-square-foot construction will include a mixed program of ground-level retail spaces topped by office amenities with four wraparound terraces, a bar, green spaces, and an activated rooftop area created by the local landscaping concern TBG.

One Ladybird Lake by KPF. Image courtesy Related Companies

This is to be joined by a shorter 5-story development located half a mile to the south on 901 South Co...