A skyscraper must appeal to the citizens of the city, be lucrative for its owners, and adapt to the evolving needs of its tenants. Moreover, it must be economical to construct, maintain, and modify.
This 180 meter, 40-story skyscraper is wrapped in a modular, biophilic, double-skin façade with automatically operated dampers to regulate internal ventilation and temperatures. “Saddlebags” are suspended around the central, structural nucleus of the building, the plan of which is in fact a simple square.
Grilles inside the dual-skin façade support planters.
Variety and Standardization
The variation in the massing and façade are produced with just two types of floor plate, both of which have wings of 290 m² and 370 m². Because the outlines of these wings are identical from floor to floor, the layout of services can be standardized and interior floor arrangements can be optimized for various uses. Moreover, the structure and façade conform to 9 and 1,5 meter grids, respectively, such that the building – from the raised access floors to the mechanical systems – is comprised of a minimum number of interchangeable, modular parts.
Applying the same rationale, the area of the building could be scaled up by increasing the number and configuration of bays in the central nucleus.
The façade modules are coordinated with the structural bays, the depths of the cantilevered saddlebags, and even the .
Flexible Leasing
Vertical circulation and utilities are contained within two solid service cores located at the corners of the central nucleus. The separation of these cores allows for discrete circulation depending on the occupation of the building, which could be any combination of commercial, residential, or hospitality. Because both cores can open to either side of the building, dissimilar functions can occupy the same vertical lines of leasable space. The reconfiguration of the building for a new type of occupancy is as simple as reprogramming the elevators.
"… appeal to the citizens of the city, be lucrative for its owners, and adapt to the changing needs of its tenants …"
Typical floor plate
Relationship to the Street
The only solid walls that extend to the ground are the service cores, the proportions of which give the building a pedestrian-friendly, human scale at the level of the street. The two-story lobby and restaurant are enclosed with highly transparent glazing that essentially allows passersby to see straight through. Broad cantilevers carve out spaces that accommodate al fresco dining under trees at the rear of the building.
Trees and outdoor restaurant seating line the street under the cantilevers at the rear of the building.
Saddlebags
The element that gives form to this tower is a nod to Charles Moore's notion of the saddlebag in architecture, which MLTW explored in Condominium One at Sea Ranch and Moore later codified in The Place of Houses.
The apparent variation in the façade and massing is created by cantilevered saddlebags organized in rhythms of four or eight floors on each of the four façades. The grouping of the saddlebags, which are one of two different depths, allows them to act as counterweights, ultimately bringing the center of gravity back to the center of the structural nucleus of the building.
The saddlebags create syncopated rhythms on adjacent façades.
