Human Connection Informs This Boston University Design

Computer science is about people. Much as it feels like machines are taking over the world, there are still programmers behind every innovation. Azer Bestavros, the associate provost for computing and data sciences at Boston University, has noted that, “Technology is not creative; people are creative.” So when KPMB Architects, a collaborative, interdisciplinary practice based in Canada that has delivered millions of square feet of projects in such sectors as education, healthcare, and hospitality and is committed to shaping a more equitable and sustainable future through design, won the competition for the university’s new Center for Computing & Data Sciences, Bestavros emphasized that the building should meet the needs of the students and staff members who would use it. KPMB met the challenge with a human-centered, Jenga-style tower that welcomes artists and engineers alike.

The project grew out of a surging interest in data science at BU. Enrollment in related courses soared between 2007 and 2017; as technology touches all of us, even humanities majors understand they need basic knowledge of the field. Further, the mathematics, statistics, and computer-science departments, which previously had separate buildings, needed to come together. A surface parking lot in the heart of campus was ripe for development.

KPMB Architects Designs a Jenga-Style Tower for Boston University

KPMB won the competition in 2013, but the 345,000-square-foot, 19-story building didn’t break ground until 2019. “The initial brief was a hub for interdisciplinary computing fields, with classrooms, labs, and research institutes,” KPMB partner Paulo Rocha begins. The university was also looking to “create an iconic building to situate BU on the skyline and in the world.” Later, the client added sustainability requirements to help meet its goal of being carbon neutral by 2040. KPMB conceived a transparent five-story podium with a café and collaboration spaces around an atrium; department offices, collaboration zones, and meeting rooms occupy the floors above. Two computer labs and 12 classrooms are spread across the building, which is open to everyone on campus.

BU’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences Invites the Community In

Located on Commonwealth Avenue near the Charles River, the center sits in a largely low-rise neighborhood. At first glance, the glass-and-steel tower might seem out of place, yet it relates to its context in subtle ways. Alternating between sections of glass and aluminum are reddish-brown louvers, the color referencing the local brick row houses, and the podium aligns with surrounding roofs. The latter also engages with the street, allowing pedestrians to see students moving through the atrium. “Academic buildings are often introverted,” Rocha says. “Our building is porous and open, with an inside-out, outside-in feel that connects to the city.”

KPMB broke down the structure’s 305-foot height with cantilevered square volumes that rotate around the core. Every two or three floors, the volumes shift 23 feet clockwise, opening up the roof on the one below to form a terrace. “It’s a vertical campus,” Rocha explains, “that helps form an identity for the different departments and gives them access to outdoors.” A communicating stair runs through the tower, and people are never more than a couple of flights from one of the eight terraces. Walkable floor plates determined the scale of the volumes, so it’s easy for colleagues to meet and gather. There are no corner offices; colorful collaboration areas get the city and river views instead.

The KPMB team had to balance the need for an energy-efficient envelope with the desire for openness. A passive house design wouldn’t fly. “Do you want clients to look through a small window or be enveloped in the city?” Rocha asks. “Sustainability is not just about numbers. It also has to be about how occupants feel.

A space that immerses you in the city has a positive effect.” His firm’s work asserts that even in our data-driven world, people should come first.

Inside BU’s New Center for Computing & Data Sciences

kpmb architects: bruce kuwabara; marianne mckenna; luigi larocca; lucy timbers; david smythe; kael opie; tyler loewen; melissa ng; matt krivosudsky; tyler hall; amin monsefi; victor garzon; samantha hart; nicholas wong; olivia di filice; jason chang; fotini pitoglou; carolyn lee; kayley mullings; arminé tadevosyan

Dot Dash: lighting design

entuitive + lemessurier consultants: structural engineer

br+a consulting engineers: mep

nitsch engineering: civil engineer

suffolk construction: general contractor

normann copenhagen: stools (ground floor)

stylex: sofas (atrium lounge, yellow collaboration

la palma: side tables (atrium lounge, green collaboration)

Hay: swivel chairs (atrium lounge), stools (purple collabor­ation), chairs (green collaboration)

Andreu World: coffee tables (atrium lounge), work tables (collaborations)

artemide: light fixture (elevator bank)

howe: tables (event space)

arper: chairs

millworks custom man­ufacturing: paneling

norvanivel: custom ottomans

findeisen nadelvlies: rugs

armstrong ceiling: felt ceiling systems

sherwin-williams company: paint

Inside JPMorgan Chase’s Historic D.C. Offices by Studios Architecture

The nation’s largest bank, JPMorgan Chase & Co., is also one of the oldest, tracing its origins to the late 1700’s. “Respecting history and supporting art and culture have been a part of our DNA since inception,” explains Farzad Boroumand, the bank’s executive director and global real estate head of design. It was only fitting, then, that when choosing a home base for its new mid-Atlantic headquarters, the financial institution would purchase a venerable property: the 1922 Bowen Building in the heart of D.C.’s Historic Fifteenth Street Financial District.

Much like JPMorgan Chase itself, which is a synthesis of many institutions that have merged or been acquired over the years, including First Republic Bank last month, the Bowen is a hybrid of several early 20th-century structures that had been combined and expanded in phases. Although the 12-story limestone edifice is not landmarked, its listed status and contribution to a historic district stipulated a sensitive renovation—and an equally conscientious design partner. After inviting proposals from several firms, the client selected Studios Architecture. “Studios stood out by suggesting innovative interior solutions that were appropriate to the classical exterior,” Boroumand recalls.

For JPMorgan Chase, Studios Architecture Designs a LEED-Certified HQ

The firm’s work at the LEED Silver–certified headquarters, totaling 231,000 square feet, encompassed a subterranean mechanicals level, the lobby and an adjacent ground-floor community center, four levels of employee and executive workspace, and a client center with a terrace. The primary challenge was to deliver the perfect marriage of old and new. “The client sought a modern scheme that spoke to who JPMorgan Chase is and would carry the organization, with its rich history, into the future,” says Studios board chair and principal Marnique Heath, who teamed with the client to lead the project with the support of Studios associate Ethan Levine, both architects from the firm’s D.C. office.

Many of the gestures, Levine notes, “were centered on thresholds, creating opportunities for visitors to pass into the bank and make them feel a sense of belonging.” That starts at the main entry sequence leading from Fifteenth Street. The client requested that it convey welcome and a sense of transparency, which Studios answered by introducing a glazed portal with revolving doors and, above, a glass canopy.

The Office Design Features Restored Details

Studios Architecture Creates a Flexible Workplace for JPMorgan Chase

The client center, up on the building’s 11th floor, houses various conference rooms and meeting areas as well as a generous terrace. Continuing the transparency theme, Studios carved out a double-height volume along the terrace-side perimeter, which serves as an airy waiting area. The firm also made substantial facade alterations here, expanding the glazing to create more openness and invite broader views of the Washington Monument and the White House. A new feature stair, its balustrade incorporating the same metalwork used on the ground floor, leads to the executive level on 12.

An elevator bay with tinted, mirrored panels and a series of LED mobile-esque chandeliers provides access to the three renovated floors of flexible work areas accommodating some 500 employees. Architect and client collaborated to uncover future-oriented strategies for the office proper. “We investigated entirely different models of working, incorporating features such as virtual meeting spaces and more homelike and lounge-y environments,” Heath recalls. A diversity of furniture types and finishes, along with 2,500 square feet of open lounges on each work floor, encourages staff members to access different settings as they shift activities throughout their day.

Ultimately, the Bowen Building stands as an example of how legacy institutions like JPMorgan Chase can build a framework for serving their communities on multiple fronts—one that acknowledges the past while making much-needed modern interventions to cocreate a better future for all.

Behind the Design of JPMorgan Chase’s D.C. Office

Studios Architecture: ashton allan; monica castro; kristian passanita; tammy chan; ruben smudde; jennifer hicks; jesse wetzel; katherine luxner; june zhu; maria percoco; gabriel boyajian

gordon: landscape architect

interior plantscapes: interior plantings

mcla: lighting designer

tce & associates: structural engineer

GHT: mep

columbia woodworking; jefferson millwork & design: millwork

boatman & magnani: stonework

gilbane building company: general contractor

bright chair: sofa, chairs (library)

modernfold: sliding door

B&B Italia: shelving

bernhardt design: tables, credenza (library), sofa (community center), coffee table, white lounge chairs (conference area)

spinneybeck: desk leather (lobby)

shickel corporation: custom screens

flos: custom pendant fixtures (lobby, client center)

bendheim: custom paneling (elevator lobby)

tech lighting: chandeliers

whitegoods: cove lighting

Stellar Works: armchairs (waiting area)

cassina: table

emerald ironworks: custom stair

planter­worx: custom planters (waiting area, terrace)

pilkington: glazing (exterior)

boon edam: revolving door

alpolic: canopy

skyfold: retractable walls (community center)

Lambert&Fils: globe pendants

vibia: pendant fix­tures

datesweiser: worktables

arper: chairs

martin brattrud: banquettes

9wood: ceiling panels (com­munity center, office entry)

londonart: wall­covering (conference area)

walter knoll: blue lounge chairs

axis lighting: linear pen­dants (conference area, lounge)

BuzziSpace: dome pendant (lounge)

spacestor: cus­tom shelving

stylex: coffee table

Scandinavian Spaces: lounge chairs

muuto: sofa, ottomans

astek: wall­covering

naughtone: two-tone sofa

milliken: carpet tile (lounge, workspace)

Andreu World: tables (ter­race)

Janus et Cie: stools, chairs, sofa

Tuuci: umbrella

stepstone: pavers

andrew neyer: pendant fixtures (office entry)

adler display: environmental graphics

Greenmood: petrified moss

viccarbe: benches

herman miller: task chairs (workspace)

knoll: workstations

armstrong: ceiling tile

applied image: privacy graphics

evensonbest: furniture supplier

transwall: glass partitions

guardian glass: exterior glazing, fins

kawneer: curtain wall, storefront system

ege: carpet tile, rugs, broadloom

Sherwin-Williams: paint

CannonDesign Transforms the Interiors of a Former Newspaper Building into Modern Tech Offices

Back in 1878, when the West was still wild and the U.S. had only 38 states, Joseph Pulitzer, a self-made Hungarian immigrant, acquired two struggling Missouri newspapers and merged them into the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which has been publishing ever since. In 1959, the paper moved its newsroom and printing plant into a 1930 art deco-style building by prominent local architects Mauran, Russell and Crowell for another, now-defunct news daily. The Post-Dispatch sold the building in 2018 and now occupies smaller facilities nearby.

Today, after a $70 million overall makeover, the building houses 850 employees of Square and Cash App, two divisions of Block, Inc., the high-tech financial services and digital payments company. The staff had previously been working in three different locations, and the corporation’s primary objective was to centralize this workforce in one user-friendly space.

Now based in San Francisco, Block was founded in St. Louis in 2009 by two natives of the Gateway City: Jack Dorsey (also a co-founder of Twitter) and Jim McKelvey, a tech-head, entrepreneur, and glass artist. To create its new Missouri digs, the company hired CannonDesign, one of the nation’s largest architectural firms.

Block was clear about its remit for the 225,000-square-foot building, which comprises six stories and two basement levels: “The client was looking to create a home for its employees,” reports project director Ken Crabiel, vice president and commercial and civic market leader at Cannon’s St. Louis office. “A place where they could be connected with one another in a variety of ways.” Like a home, the plan called for a series of connected spaces, both large and small, public and private, to accommodate multiple activities.

The large spaces include three multilevel atria that connect to the more intimate areas by a series of interior staircases. Employees can choose to work at a traditional desk or on a sofa or lounge chair, and meetings can range from intimate tête-à-têtes to company-wide confabs in the vast all-hands area. The building can accommodate up to 1,200 workers, so Block has room to grow in place. (Currently, most employees are free to work from home or in the office, as they choose.)

In a project-defining move, the original newspaper printing press has been left in place—a steampunkish behemoth that stretches roughly 80 feet along the ground floor. Project designer and Cannon associate Olivia Gebben is especially enamored of the small basement-level lounge spaces tucked among the massive steel columns and beams that support the machinery above. “In these lounges, you can look up and literally touch the buttons and wheels that made the presses tick,” she enthuses.

“It’s hard to overestimate the role that press has in the collective memory of St. Louis,” Crabiel observes, noting that the machinery was clearly visible behind large street-level windows. “People used to come to watch the presses cranking out the paper. Nowadays the use of the building may be different, but you can still see activity in and around the press through those same windows, especially at night.”

The renovation also preserved a spiral staircase, much of Pulitzer’s office, and areas of decorative terrazzo flooring. Otherwise, floors throughout are the original concrete, with all their evolved patina showing. “We just refinished them with a low-grit polish,” Gebben notes. Adaptive reuse is nothing new to Cannon, which operates its St. Louis practice out of a similarly gutted and reinvented 1928 power station. “We’re fortunate to have a lot of that kind of building stock in our city,” Crabiel acknowledges. “And much of it is getting new life.”

The interior program was intentionally kept timeless, both natural and neutral. “We featured exposed concrete and natural oak against a lot of black and white,” Gebben says. “The bright blue printing press is a huge presence, so we didn’t add much color.” Most of the color, in fact, comes from numerous art installations.

“Art is in the DNA of our company,” says Jay Scheinman, Block’s global municipal affairs lead. “Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey came up with the idea of Square when Jim couldn’t complete the sale of one of his glass pieces because he didn’t have the ability to take a credit card.” In keeping with this strong connection to art, a contest was run for local artists to come up with pieces reflecting the company’s mission of economic empowerment. The 10 winning entries are now incorporated into the fabric of the building. Third Degree Glass Factory, founded by McKelvey in a reclaimed 1920’s service station, devised a striking ceiling installation—a constellation of suspended vitreous globes—for the third-to-fourth-floor atrium. “The blue color is as close a match to the press as possible,” Crabiel explains. “And the individual handblown ‘bubbles’ are meant to represent ink droplets.”

“So often in design, you look at the physical form and can see the connections between the original building and the renovation,” Crabiel continues. “But sometimes there’s an underlying philosophical connection, too.” Pulitzer believed that providing information enabled readers to make responsible choices. “Block is centered on the same principle,” the architect says, “and we wanted that notion to have a presence in the new iteration of the Post-Dispatch building.”

Cannon­Design: Ken Crabiel; Olivia Gebben, michael bonomo; nicole andreu; kevin zwick; elise novak; enge sun; melissa pirtle; stephen gantner; carmen ruiz cruz; kelsey mack; heather rosen; michelle rotherham; rita radley; brendan smith; jocelyn wildman; alex oliver; alyssa packard; barrett newell

trivers architecture: architect of record

mcclure engineering: MEP

KPFF Consulting Engineers: Structural Engineer

tarlton corp.: general contractor

Andreu World: café tables (all hands)

davis: chairs

ofs: high tables

coalesce: stools

flos: lighting system

plyboo: paneling (all hands, atrium 2)

knollstudio: chairs (game room)

gestalt: side tables (game room, lounge area 1)

kasthall: rugs (lounge areas)

Hay: sofa (lounge area 1), side chairs (terrace)

ecosense: pendant fixture (conference room)

tretford: carpet

herman miller: side chairs (con­ference room), task chairs (office area)

stylex: sofa (lounge area 2)

bernhardt: coffee table (lounge area 2), side tables (atrium 1), ottomans (atrium 2)

modloft: lounge chairs (atrium 1)

mafi: stairs, flooring (atria)

poe: storefront systems

Janus et Cie: tables (terrace)

Paola Lenti: lounge chairs

kettal: side tables, lounger

landscape forms: benches

pair: workstations (office area)

fine mod imports: lounge chairs

de padova: coffee tables

anthropologie: rug

focal point: pendant fixtures

Interface: carpet tile

woodtech: café tables (atrium 2)

Fredericia: side chairs

resident: sofa

vitra: lounge chairs

Ethnicraft: coffee table

vibia: floor lamp

growing green: planters

ppg industries: paint

HOK Creates a Streamlined Office for a Freight Rail Operator in Atlanta

Transportation company Norfolk Southern Corporation traces its history back to 1827. But today it’s firmly rooted in the 21st century. Its subsidiary, Norfolk Southern Railway Company, which oversees 19,000 miles of train tracks across 22 states, relies on technology to ensure safety, move goods efficiently, and reduce fuel emissions. But to be innovative and nimble—and attract top coders and engineers—NS needed to consolidate into a state-of-the-art headquarters. For decades, the corporation was based in Norfolk, Virginia, but its operations and technology teams were in Atlanta. In 2018, NS decided to bring everyone together, and HOK won the bid for the interiors of a new 750,000-square-foot complex in Midtown Atlanta’s Tech Square.

“The client didn’t want this to be treated like a train museum,” HOK firm-wide director of interiors Tom Polucci begins. “The existing buildings had beautiful models of locomotives, but NS said, ‘No, we’re more sophisticated than that.’” Betsy Nurse, HOK Atlanta’s director of interiors, adds: “Norfolk Southern sees itself as a tech company, not a railroad company.” The client envisioned a timeless concept where track workers and administrators alike would feel at home, with ample flex spaces to help the 3,000 on-site employees meet and collaborate. Robust amenities—fitness center, food hall, game room, childcare center—would help the company compete for talent against the likes of Google.

With architecture by Pickard Chilton, the ground-up headquarters is composed of two office towers (10 and 17 stories tall) joined by a five-story podium, which houses the lobby, amenities, and parking. HOK was at the table from the beginning and helped shape some of the architectural solutions, especially in the podium. The parking deck constrained the volume that would become the lobby, which could have been one to three stories high. “We studied different options and how the floors wove together,” Polucci says. The team landed on a 32-foot-high lobby that’s open to loungelike collaboration zones on the second floor and creates energy and buzz. This gave HOK the opportunity to create a monumental circular stair, the defining element of the interior.

The firm conceived of the stair as an iconic sculpture that would make the headquarters unique. Its ribbon of Corian-clad steel twists from the ground floor to the fourth, but the white-oak treads only begin on level two. In the lobby—detached from the stairs for security reasons—the Corian curls to wrap the reception desk. “Our goal was a pure form,” Polucci says. “The ribbon is consistent all the way up; it doesn’t flatten out at each floor.”

The stair grew out of the idea of movement, the guiding theme of the project. “Norfolk Southern was looking to celebrate the idea of motion in subtle, special ways,” Polucci notes. Outside the building’s entrance, a site-specific sculpture evokes tunnels and curved tracks in weathering steel. Nurse points out that the artwork is right outside the lobby, where you can see its relationship to the stair: “One is super refined, the other is raw.”

Artwork populates the interior, as well. In the ground-floor café, which is open to the public, there’s a 19-foot-high mural by HOK’s Experience Design team of a train on a track under a golden moon. Nearby, a painting by local artist María Korol hangs at the end of the main elevator lobby.

On the fourth floor, the stair terminates in front of the network operations center, which is like an air-traffic control room for trains. “From a visitor experience, it tells a story, because you land at the heart of the facility,” Nurse says. The room vividly channels the concept of motion with angular pendant fixtures and 2,000 feet of recessed LED strips that streak across the ceiling and down the walls. The center, which operates 24/7, also glows with blue lighting chosen to be soft on the eyes of dispatchers staring at screens all day.

Employees come together in the fifth-floor canteen that doubles as an all-hands meeting space. Designed like a food hall with six different vendors, it sits between two outdoor terraces; one has a retractable glass wall so the spaces can flow together. Totaling 55,000 square feet, the outdoor areas include another terrace by the gym on the floor below, where employees can do laps on circular walking paths. “Movement is also important to Norfolk Southern from a health and wellness perspective,” Nurse states. Glass-walled stairs in both towers further encourage physical activity.

While the array of amenities might seem like a post-pandemic bid to lure workers back to the office, the program had already been in place. The headquarters was mid-construction in March 2020, and Norfolk Southern stuck to the plan—even keeping a permanent desk for each employee. “That was a key tenant from the beginning,” Annie Adams, Norfolk Southern’s chief transformation officer, says. “It was important that everyone have a space to call their own.” The company, which had a phased move-in that began last fall and was completed in April, had always planned on accommodating hybrid work; meeting rooms are wired to connect remote participants seamlessly. Adams estimates that the headquarters is typically at 80 percent capacity. For her, the project’s success goes well beyond its anticipation of flexible work schedules. “The design reflects who we are and where we’re going,” she says. The future of freight rail, it seems, is right on track.

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HOK: danielle schmitt; kay sargent; diana stanisic; vivien chen; richard saunders; weronika cichosz; francesca meola; crystal latham; valerie roosma; irina sai; erin ezell; emily payne; bethany foss; claire pellettiere; matt mcinerney

HKS: architect of record

OJB: landscape consultant

HOK Experience Design: custom graphics

one lux studio: lighting con­sultant

uzun + case: structural engineer

integral consulting: mep

onsite woodwork corporation: custom fabrication workshop

hitt: general contractor

masland carpets: rug (lobby)

hbf: sofa (lobby), chairs (café)

luum: sofa upholstery (lobby), chair fabric (lounge)

shaw contract: lvt (break room); rugs (break room, lounge), carpet tile (daycare)

Courtesy of Davis Furniture: tables (break room)

jamie stern design: custom banquettes

pollack: banquette upholstery

mortensen woodwork: custom screens (lounge)

curry sawmill co.: custom table

Andreu World: chairs (lounge, café)

Holly Hunt: chair (reception)

art & associates: custom light fixtures (gym entry), custom wallcovering (gym)

wolf-gordon: wallcovering (gym entry)

Bentley Mills: carpet tile (conference center)

russ bassett: workstation (operations center)

lambert & fils: pendant fixtures (café)

nydree floor­ing: floor tile (canteen)

martin brattrud: tables

sandler seating: stools

ton: chairs

nanawall: folding glass wall

atomic 50: ceiling panels (game room)

flor: carpet tile

CB2: ceiling fixtures

hightower: red chairs

ofs: ping pong table

big ass fans: fans (gym)

pliteq: floor tile

flos: track fixtures (daycare)

ef contract: lvt

Dupont: corian

basaltite: stone flooring

kährs: wood flooring

axis lighting; genled brands; hubbell; led linear; 3g lighting; usai lighting: lighting

decoustics; ritz acoustics; usg: acoustical ceilings

benjamin moore & co.: paint

Hickok Cole Creates an Eco-Sensitive Update for the American Geophysical Union’s Washington Headquarters

After nearly three decades, the mechanical systems in the American Geophysical Union’s once state-of-the-art headquarters in Washington were reaching the end of their useful life. For some people, the inevitable slide into obsolescence might trigger sledgehammer fantasies. But for the nonprofit AGU—a worldwide network of 130,000 professional experts and amateur enthusiasts in the Earth and space sciences that tracks the causes and effects of global warming—it was a moment of truth.

“Something major had to be done,” Hickok Cole senior principal and co-owner Yolanda Cole acknowledges. But rather than design a new structure from scratch, her firm was asked to modernize the 1993 Shalom Baranes Associates–designed building to meet net-zero energy goals and create a game-changing case study for the industry. “The AGU decided to walk the walk,” as Cole puts it.

Nearly 20 white papers later, client and firm had mapped out a comprehensive plan of energy reduction, reclamation, absorption, and generation for the 84,000-square-foot project, which includes two underground levels (the lowest a parking garage), five above-grade floors, and a rooftop penthouse and terrace. Two new open stairways connect and reorient different areas: One links ground and lower-level meeting and exhibit spaces; the other forms a central core between the top three floors, where workstations and an open-plan café accommodate 130 staff members. (The building’s second floor is tenant space.) Custom graphics incorporating photographs of the AGU’s main areas of research, both terrestrial and interplanetary, are printed on film applied to interior glass walls to serve identity and wayfinding functions.

“The organization was very attached to this building because of all the symbolism built into it, starting with its iconic ‘prow’ on the northeast corner,” Hickok Cole senior associate and lead project designer Guilherme Almeida says, referring to the shiplike steel-and-glass form that projected from the structure’s narrowest facade. Since this prominent exterior element only started on the second floor, however, its effect was mostly lost inside. Hickok Cole “democratized” it by opening up the corner and extending the glazing down to near street level; now every floor can experience the prow factor.

In all, the design team replaced more than 900 windows with dynamic, triple-pane, electrochromic glass, which uses sensors to measure sun levels and automatically tints to reduce glare and heat transmission. The fenestration is connected to the building’s interior lighting, so as the glass grows darker, the lights glow brighter. The windows also enable the AGU to limit its use of HVAC systems.

The site’s tight urban footprint did not allow for a geothermal plant, so Hickok Cole tapped another resource 30 feet below ground–the municipal sewers–using a technology developed in Europe to leverage the natural thermal energy flowing through the subterranean network. Screened wastewater is pumped into a heat exchanger with a separate closed-loop system that circulates clean water through coils embedded in drywall and metal ceiling panels to warm or cool the building efficiently.

The other major change is much more visible. To meet energy goals, the building required a larger photovoltaic array than would fit on the existing roof, so the eaves were extended by 4 feet all around—a strategy that neighborhood groups worried would look awkward and cast bigger shadows. Hickok Cole won them over with a dramatic silhouette that accentuates the prow, making the irregular pentagon–shape volume look more triangular.

The solar panels, which utilize every square inch of the rooftop, are supported on a steel lattice frame that allows daylight to penetrate into the penthouse, casts lovely dappled light on the terrace, and minimizes long shadows on the surrounding cityscape. “Now if you look at before shots, the building looks like it forgot its hat,” Almeida jokes.

Not everything is new. The client was adamant that, where possible, every material and fixture be recycled or repurposed, which meant that a beloved inlaid-marble compass on the lobby floor was left intact, and even exit signs were saved and reinstalled. With great care, builders salvaged and cleaned about 5,000 bricks for reuse in the facade. A local construction-aggregate company crushed up old windows, sinks, and toilets to be transformed into sparkly salt-and-pepper terrazzo flooring. Some existing furniture was reupholstered, cherry-veneer paneling was sanded down and lightened, and a polished slab of petrified wood from the AGU’s specimen collection tops the new reception desk as it had the original one.

Such measures did not always save money, but that was not the point. “For the organization, it was a mission that would add to the integrity of their purpose,” Cole explains. “Over time, if industries set up to do these things, it won’t be any more expensive than buying new.”

Perhaps the most consequential space Hickok Cole created, however, is a bare-bones command center on the lower level. It’s where engineers continually monitor the building’s energy consumption and generation, collecting thousands of data points every day in an ongoing net-zero architectural experiment that may lead to further innovations. “If nothing else, this project may convince people that all-glass buildings are not always the answer,” Almeida says. “The surprise takeaway is that you can have a class-A space in a 1990’s building.”

Hickok Cole: Emily Rickman; Johanna Lofstrom

Lee and Associates Inc: Landscape Consultant

C&G Partners: Custom Graphics

Tadjer-Cohen-Edelson Associates: Structural Engineer

Interface Engineering: Mep.

Vika: Civil Engineer

Architectural Wood: Woodwork

Hitt Contracting: General Contractor

MGAC: Construction Manager

Clipso: ceiling panels (top floor)

watson: table (conference room)

herman miller: chairs

Marmi Faedo: limestone (reception)

vibia: pendant fixtures (lounge)

bernhardt design: sofa

First Office: high table

Davis Furniture: coffee table (lounge), armchairs (lounge, pre-function area)

keilhauer: café table, chairs (lounge), ottoman (huddle room)

Emeco: barstools (lounge), side chairs (terrace)

Bison: wood pavers (terrace)

landscape forms: seating

Andreu World: table, side table (terrace), bench (huddle room)

Nedlaw Living Walls: green wall (huddle room)

Dupont: countertop (breakout hall)

carnegie: paneling

Interface; Shaw Contract: carpet

Capri Collections: cork flooring

Messana Radiant Cooling; Zehnder Rittling: ceiling panels

armstrong: ceiling tile

Shinnoki: wood-veneer paneling

Erco: track lighting

JLC-Tech: linear lighting

Safti First: interior glass wall system

Sageglass: exterior glass

Wausau: exterior curtain wall

Arconic: exterior metal panels

Sherwin-Williams: paint

Perkins&Will Turns to Geometry for a Coffee Shop at Emily Carr University of Art + Design

It could have posed an interior quandary. A pavilion in the public square serving Emily Carr University of Art + Design complex in Vancouver, BC, all by Perkins&Will, is round in plan, the structure consisting of 10 petals of CNC-cut laminated timber clad in cherry-hued shingles (thus its nickname, Red Pavilion). But after Nemesis Coffee leased the site, its third in the city, all in creative hubs, and contacted Perkins&Will via an Instagram direct message, the unusual container’s 2,000-square-foot interiors began to take shape. The space had “always wanted to be a coffee house,” senior associate Rufina Wu begins. But the fit-out required finesse. “With our strongly sculptural building, the inside had to reference the architecture—and also complement it.”

The Perkins&Will interiors team acknowledged the unusual geometry with a feature element on the ceiling. Starting with a central oculus, fins of white fabric stretch outward toward the perimeter. LED strips spill warm illumination through the fins, which are made from a textile used for dif­fusing light on film sets. The effect is both “organic,” Wu notes, and calming and echoes the exterior petals.

Perkins&Will selected a muted palette for the materials, the architect continues, to create a vibe that is welcoming, especially on Vancouver’s frequent gray days. The choices of glass, stainless steel, and pale woods were also affected by pandemic supply-chain hiccups. The firm relied on a hometown fabricator for the curved birch-plywood paneling and a circular high table, its center containing a leafy green tree.

In between all the swooshes is a highly functional eatery. A stainless-steel bar slices through the middle of the plan, dividing the seating from the kitchen and service areas. Above, a continuous glass divider modulates from clear (for display cases) to reflective (concealing restrooms). “It reveals exactly what should be revealed,” Wu says, “and hides the rest.” For those wanting to be seen, the café opens onto an outdoor patio furnished with recycled-plastic chairs.

Add tag via side panel: shingles (facade)

article: stools (café)

Andreu World: chairs

best film service: custom ceiling fins

tata: pendant fixtures

lumentruss: linear ceiling fixtures

systemalux: linear pendant fixtures

crl: display hardware

Blu Dot: seating (patio)

rempel bros: concrete flooring

thinkl lighting studio: lighting consultant

cft engineering: code consultant

p&b engineering: structural engineer

integral group: mep

uppercase architectural millwork and design: woodwork

goldray glass: glasswork

tetherstone construction: general contractor

Interior Design Hosts 8th Annual HiP Awards at theMART in Chicago

Kicking off NeoCon 2021, Interior Design editor in chief Cindy Allen welcomed the A&D community back together at this year’s HiP Awards ceremony in Chicago—a true homecoming following countless virtual meetings over the past year and a half. After enjoying a pre-show cocktail or two, an intimate crowd of roughly 150 designers and manufacturers gathered safely at theMART Sunday evening to honor friends and colleagues during the eighth annual ceremony.  

“We’re back!” Allen said grinning widely as she took the stage and thanked theMART, event sponsors, and all those in the industry who made the event possible. Then the accolades began, starting with Product winners and capping off the evening with the hippest of the hip People winners, from Rising Stars to three Lifetime of HiPness awards. A chorus of cheers and applause followed winner and honoree announcements throughout the hour-long event, making the energy in the room palpable even to those viewing the livestream from afar.

“During the pandemic, the power of design in our lives became crystal clear to the world, so the awards were that much more meaningful—and a whole bunch of fun—to honor the hippest product and people in our beloved industry!” shares Allen, adding a “Hip Hip Hooray to all.”

A very special thank you to our HiP Awards SELECT sponsors who made this event possible:

A very special thank you to our HiP Awards sponsors who made this event possible:

A very special thank you to our HiP Awards award sponsor:

CannonDesign Swaps Old for High-Tech for the Cboe Global Markets in Chicago

Like their fellow practitioners around the world, floor traders at the Chicago Board Options Exchange have long communicated vital information via shouts and hand signals, the color and detailing on their jackets identifying their role, employer, and other crucial information. Behind the often raucous scene, however, predictive mathe­matical formulas—algorithms—play an increasingly important role in electronic trading. That paradigm shift prompted Cboe Global Markets, owners of the options exchange, the largest in the U.S., to replace its longtime home in Chicago’s financial district with a state-of-the-art headquarters. The company tapped CannonDesign to identify a suitable site for the new digs and design them. “Cboe sought a transformational environment,” begins design principal Mark Hirons, who led the com­mission with Meg Osman, Cannon project principal, “one that reflects its strength, global leadership, and pioneering innovation within the marketplace.”

After carefully evaluating several nearby locations, Hirons pitched the Old Chicago Main Post Office, once the largest in the world. Built in 1921, the facility underwent a massive expansion in 1932 to handle the avalanche of goods shipped by mail-order-catalog companies such as Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. Empty since 1997, the landmarked art deco colossus recently underwent an $800-million renovation by developer 601W Companies and Gensler. Comprising more than 2.5 million square feet of multiuse office and event space, the project, which claims to be the largest historic redevelopment in the nation, is poised to become once again a central hub of the Windy City’s commercial life. “Both the USPS and Cboe were pioneers in different ways, disrupters that had huge impacts on the economy,” Hirons notes. “The context of the old post office served as a rich canvas to tell the future of Cboe’s story with a unique and authentic Chicago icon.”

The 185,000-square-foot headquarters encompasses three connected floors that straddle the original building and the later addition. The interior spaces create a dynamic, undeniable modern milieu that coexists smoothly with protected historical architectural elements, such as a mezzanine that now features a pair of glass-cube meeting rooms cantilevered over the reception area, a nod to the observation boxes above the trading floors of yesteryear. In fact, a trading floor is not part of the new workplace (Hirons and his team are designing a new one for Cboe in the historic Board of Trade building, site of the company’s original trading pit), which, along with the educational Options Institute and amenities for hosting international guests, includes open work areas, private offices, electronic trading support facilities, innumerable meeting rooms, cafés, and flexible lounges.

A sense of verve, along with the algorithmic patterns that underlie today’s financial exchanges, inspired much of the angular design. Most dramatic is the 140-foot-long white stretched ceiling extending from the elevator lobby down the length of reception, a shiny multilevel feature that incorporates LED stock ticker feeds while bringing reflected light and views deep into the office. Beneath it, the angular motif is echoed in a blue-and-white area rug as well as in light fixtures, bronze-painted metal screens, and furnishings throughout the project. “Cboe thrives on intense and volatile energy,” Hirons says. “It was essential that the space created moments within that translated that experience.”

Indeed, a colorful installation of neatly folded traders’ jackets in a conference room speaks to the company’s storied past. The equally colorful cables that enable lightning-fast electronic trading are likewise celebrated in the elevator lobby, where 30,000 linear feet of multihued cords dangle from the soaring ceiling. “It creates a sense of immersive chaos,” Hirons notes, as do the many artworks that enliven the surroundings. “The extensive art and environmental graphics were designed to tell a story: the history of the organization,” Osman adds. “They celebrate, in a modern way, the company’s beginnings, unique place in the industry, and overall trajectory.” A good example is a two-story wall sculpture that animates one of two new staircases linking the floors in the different buildings. Hundreds of highly polished yellow, blue, and green stainless-steel fins create a vortexlike arrangement that changes with the viewing angle. “It’s alive and interesting, almost like a gallery that draws you from one floor to another,” Hirons comments, noting the rhythmic pattern is inspired by the wind on Lake Michigan, the colors of the sky, and the prairie.

While the pandemic has delayed the return of many employees to the office, more appear by the month. Their response, Hirons says, has been universally positive. “This a memorable environment with Instagram moments, but it also reflects their culture and tells their story in a way that feels fresh and engaging,” he explains. “Cboe has an incredible history of having foreign dignitaries and leaders visit and is excited to continue that lineage going forward.” And once the new remote trading floor is completed, an interactive monitor display will livestream the action to the new HQ, furthering a sense of connectivity that links the company’s past, present, and future.

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CannonDesign: kay maines; noelle kinyon; angela furman; kevin miao; taeko sato; raisa shigol

patti gilford fine art:

studio a: art consultants

parenti and raffaelli: woodwork

pepper construction: general contractor

newmat: stretched ceiling (reception)

bernhardt design: swivel chairs

the rug company: rugs (reception, interview area, skylight lounge)

arper: armchairs (reception, stair lounge, town hall), sofas (reception, stair lounge), lounge chairs (interview area)

decca: tables (reception, sky­light lounge)

banker wire: balustrades (stair)

keilhauer: bench (interview area)

vibia: pendant fixtures (interview area, break-out booth)

berhardt design: coffee table (interview area), tables (social hub)

object carpet: rug (stair lounge)

offecct: tables (stair lounge, town hall)

nevins: tables (break-out booth, town hall)

stylex: banquette (break-out booth), sofa (town hall)

rulon: slat ceiling (town hall)

shaw contract: carpet tile

gabriel: curtain fabric

davis: side chairs

turf: baffle ceiling (options institute)

Bentley Mills: carpet tile

designtex: curtain fabric

Andreu World: chairs (options institute, social hub)

the bahr co.: plank flooring (hallway)

coelux: ceiling fix­tures (skylight lounge)

tuohy: seating

lapchi: rug

sonneman a way of light: pendant fixtures (social hub)

national ceilings and partitions: wood ceilings

api signs: custom installations

scuffmaster:

sherwin-williams company: paint