A team led by Foster + Partners has completed work on the Comcast Technology Center in Philadelphia, a mixed-use high-rise complex that sports the city's tallest tower.
The tower rises 1,121-feet and contains offices for local the NBC affiliate and Spanish language news service Telemundo62. The tower's "vertically-stepped" offices feature "Silicon Valley-style" lofted working areas and a mix of tech-savvy television studios. A 12-story Four Seasons Hotel tops the office portions of the complex.
Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners said via press release, “The Comcast Technology Center brings together an unusual mixture of uses to create a new exemplar for the design of tall buildings. It makes a positive contribution to the surrounding urban fabric, drawing public life into the building and responding to the lively street culture of Philadelphia."
The building also maintains open and generous connections to the surrounding streets via a large atrium that links directly to a subway line running below the tower. The arrangement represents part of an effort by the development team to reduce employee driving. The tower's public spaces are also filled with large-scale artworks, including video installations by artist Brian Eno, Steven Speilberg, Jenny Holzer, and Conrad Shawcross.
Foster added, "More than 80% of the workforce arrive directly by tunnels at the lowest level connecting to Philadelphia’s public transport system – a vital part of the project’s sustainable agenda. Working alongside Brian Roberts and his talented Comcast team has been a great collaboration and we are all delighted with the outcome.”
The tower is one of a handful of sky-scraping projects the firm currently has in the works across the east coast.
4 Comments
I wonder — why they call it the finger? — or maybe the bird to honor the Eagles?
it should be good but it isn't... kind of soulless.... foster doesn't have it anymore ....
Yes, Foster' s has sunk a lot from the days of Hongkong Bank and Sainsbury Centre.
And the finger thing is just stupid. They should just put a sign on it saying "We didn't want to spend the money to build a legit supertall, so we just stuck some shit on the roof to get extra height."
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