The 34-story crescent-shaped tower fronts the city but pivots on the site, reinforcing the downtown grid to the east while acknowledging the museum campus gardens and White River to the west and north. The complex has a low-rise masonry and limestone podium that wraps the west and south façades and creates a city-scaled plinth that helps moderate the overall scale of the structure. The dramatic tower interlocks with the podium and presents itself in full height along the east and north façades, and a two-story glass canopy defines the main entrance on West Street.
Within the podium there is ballroom and meeting space made up of 23,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 20,670 square foot junior ballroom and a 40,500 square foot grand ballroom, which is one of the largest Marriott ballrooms in the world. The 1,005-key complex also has a 1,000 car, three-level, below grade parking structure and a covered overhead walkway to the Indiana Convention Center, making it the perfect destination for the adjacent convention center, museums, ballpark, and business district. This project was completed in collaboration with HOK and was the largest JW in the world at the time of completion.
CSO was commissioned to design an amenity center to serve Parkwood Crossing in order to invigorate the workplace experience for tenants by offering enhanced opportunities for food service, meeting spaces, as well as indoor and outdoor fitness. The location and orientation of the building provides visitors with a peaceful and regenerative connection with the adjacent lake. PARC includes a concierge, dining facilities, a 6,000 square foot fitness center, cyber café, conference rooms, a bike share option, and collaborative spaces available to all tenants located in Parkwood Crossing.
The design concept was organized so that the “service” functions are oriented to the west side of the building, acting as a thermal and visual buffer from western sun/wind exposure and views of the large parking field. This allows the “people spaces” – the cyber café, meeting areas, and lounge spaces – to take advantage of water views and a tranquil, shaded outdoor deck. This organization is architecturally expressed through the use of a continuous stone wall plane that bisects the building into solid and void volumes. The exterior utilizes natural materials including glass, concrete, stone, wood, and colored stainless steel “shingles” which project an urban feeling.
The interior design is focused on natural light, flexibility, openness, and durability. The carpet, tile, and polished concrete co-exist nicely, providing a soothing accent to those seeking respite, nourishment, or the opportunity for exercise. The diverse seating options provide solutions for a wide variety of personal interactions while allowing for unique experiences and vantage points for visitors. The 14,000 square foot state-of-the-art amenity center goes a long way toward improving the daily workplace experience of the Parkwood Crossing business community.
Forty540, a speculative office building, was developed as Phase I of a two-building master-planned office park. The 5-story building includes expansive, interrupted floor plates of over 40,000 square feet, allowing for maximum flexibility and minimal disruption of interior space planning for large tenants while still maintaining common area efficiencies for small and mid-sized tenants. The building design includes high performance clear floor to ceiling glass to maximize visibility while minimizing solar heat gain within the building.
CSO’s interior designers worked with the owner to provide a lobby design that capitalizes on the concept of using the public area as an integrated community space. A social gathering lounge directly off the lobby provides space to meet, relax, and play. The finishes from the lobby stretch seamlessly into the lounge to create a connection and remove perceived barriers, thus breathing life into the lobby as well. A variety of seating options welcomes visitors and encourages them to utilize the space to meet their needs.
The architectural design reinterprets the classic base, middle, and top composition of commercial/public buildings in a more contemporary aesthetic. The exterior precast concrete skin uses three different colors and textures transcending from dark at the bottom to light at the top. The majority of the façade is composed of floor to ceiling punched windows, but incorporates sections of vertical precast panels and glass curtain wall to accent the main entrance and corners of the building.
