News
The Future According to Amazon
March 29, 2012
| What will the Denny Triangle look like in 10 years? (Our chief prognosticator, George Jetson, has some wild opinions.) The most comprehensive answer is probably "different than it does now." We got an early look at what it could be when NBBJ architects John Savo and Dale Alberda showed off four models of how Amazon's new office towers could be positioned in an early design review at City Hall. |
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| Above, the "preferred option" John and Dale presented. (In the future, Amazon's skyscrapers will be made out of bits of wood, and everything else downtown will be painted white.) Each of the three proposed buildings would likely be around 37 stories high, taking full advantage of the 500-foot height cap for downtown offices. In addition to the main buildings, NBBJ architects proposed "incubator office buildings" as well as skybridges connecting them to the towers. The architects are also seeking alley vacations on each block, a first for John. "We joke about form following parking, but loading docks are right up there too," he added. |
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| Amazon has also asked NBBJ to design an auditorium-like space that would hold up to 2,000 people, something it currently lacks. The company hasn't made up its mind as to whether the space would be open to the public but has been clear that the "pocket parks and plazas" between the buildings will be. That includes a 6,000 SF of triangle-shaped green space with sightlines into other open spaces between the buildings. The towers have been delicately placed so as not to disrupt the sightlines of existing apartments. "Our client has repeated over and over again that they don't want to build a corporate headquarters, but we d o want to be good neighbors," John told the crowd of more than 100 at City Hall. "And that's what we hope this will accomplish." |
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| Above, Downtown Design Review board members Brian Scott of BDS Planning and Design, Pragnesh Parikh of Reddish Parikh A+U, Mathew Albores of Miller Hull Partnership and Gabriel Grant of HAL Real Estate Investments mostly liked what they saw. Just how long will it take to complete this project? The likelihood is that buildings would be constructed one at a time with two to four years between each. (That way they can get their bearings before their little brothers and sisters come along.) The first block to be built would probably be block 14, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, bordering Westlake, Virginia, and Lenora Streets. |
