The terrace landscape at 250 West 55th Street occupies the third floor of a new corporate office tower designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Its design considered not only how the space might be occupied, but also how it might become a visual amenity for the higher floors of the tower and its urban context. The design has attained LEED Gold certification by making provisions for stormwater management, reductions in the urban heat island effect, and the use of recycled materials.
The design embraces SOM’s minimalist design of the tower, juxtaposing natural plant material with its stark materiality of glass and steel. A deck is placed amidst a monolithic sculpted meadow of low grasses and birch trees, an unaltered piece of nature with the dynamic movement of grasses dancing in the wind. When viewed from inside the space, the deck appears as an island embraced by nature, the grasses adding a tactile quality to the user’s experience. As seen from the street, an airy canopy of birch trees provides a natural foil to the reflective quality of the façade.
The design is a strong, simple gesture that allows the terrace to create a sense of escape from daily office activity, whether one looks into the meadow from above or experiences the meadow from within. The contrast of materiality between the landform and the building’s façade creates a solution that is powerful yet understated, minimal yet dynamic, whimsical yet elegant and to be enjoyed for years to come.
Larchmont Yacht Club
Larchmont Yacht Club is the second-oldest yacht club in the United States. Conceived in 1880 on the cleft rocks of Larchmont Manor, the club has grown to a membership in excess of 600, with a continued mission to instill and enhance an interest in yachting and the spirit of sportsmanship in members and their families. Set within a mature forest of deciduous tr...
Progressive Design Center
This corporate campus is sited in a natural woodland, punctuated with ravines, dry streambeds, and the companion beech and birch stands found in this area. The facility’s size, one million square feet, is deconstructed into smaller programmatic components that are expressed in two linear building forms connected by enclosed walkways at two locations and divide...
Giant Interactive Headquarters
We collaborated with Morphosis Architects on a new ecological park and living laboratory for Giant Interactive Headquarters, a 45-acre corporate campus in Shanghai, China. The design concept blurs the distinction between the ground plane and the structure, weaving water and wetland habitats together with the folded green roof of the main building design. The s...
Burj Khalifa
Playing on the theme of “A Tower in a Park,” this shaded landscape creates a compelling oasis of green, with distinct areas to serve the tower’s hotel, residential, spa and corporate office areas. The visitor begins at the main arrival court at the base of the tower, where the “prow” of the building intersects a grand circular court—a “water room” defined by f...