VerticAL AGORA
300 N LaSalle (conceptual)
At the very moment when pandemic-enforced isolation and atomization suggests the death of the urban office, the persistent human desire for collectivity has created a paradoxical result. As traditional office spaces, structures, and concepts evaporate, they will distill into a newly defined space for work and play, allowing for opportunistic interactions and shared resources.
Being together—as citizens, colleagues, in person and virtually— is already shaping the next wave of workplace design, and it will grow to exemplify the new normal. Additionally, office buildings will do more to give back to their communities, understanding their position as one piece of the woven fabric of the city. As a result of this, building amenities, which are so often spread out from the rooftop to the basement, have the powerful potential to shift to lower levels to increase their engagement with the public sphere. We used 300 North LaSalle in Chicago as our case study to showcase how this tactic could enhance their prime location.
Inspired by the ancient Greek “assembly place,” Vertical Agora layers public incubator space within the lower floors of a riverfront high rise office tower, transitioning into co-working and meeting spaces on top. In this amenities program, both the tenants and other civilians have access to practical assets that support mental, physical, and social wellness. Not only does the amenities plan provide areas where anyone can directly interact with nature and the urban environment, it enhances the financial and cultural value and use of the office building.
A street-grade plaza connects sectionally to the Chicago Riverwalk with attractions for the public on a lower level, including market kiosks for local vendors. The plaza slopes into the water, allowing watercraft to dock, and providing dynamic scenery of people, their urban canvas, and nature. A low, semi-autonomous volume to the west (currently a restaurant) serves as a vertical linchpin between the water, the street level public programs, and the semi-private programs in the levels above.
The second floor contains exhibition space for community art projects, a gym to promote physical wellness, and conferencing programs to support the work happening in the tower above. Above them are two floors of flexible, reconfigurable co-working space where tenants can offer their staff a drop-in work area, and individuals can rent out desks as needed.
In a world of endless novel amenities, Vertical Agora provides spaces akin university commons that aids in reconnecting people after what was, for many, a long and lonely pandemic. No longer just a “perk,” the idea of a building common amenity will expand, resurface, and coalesce into a new typology: a public interface between the urban realm and the private occupancy of the office tower; a layered resource for visitors, workers, innovators, and revelers; and a building within a building.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
ARCHITECTURE
Sloped plaza boat dock
Skylights
Art feature wall
Fitness center
TEAM
Peter Randolph, Reyes Sanchez, Andy Naoumov
Christina Brown, Megan Stroud, Karen Chow
2021