Photo Credit: Jonathan Hillyer

100 Peachtree Street

Company:
EYP Architecture & Engineering
100 Peachtree Street NW, Mezzanine
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
(404) 524-2200
https://www.eypae.com/
Contact:
Joshua LeFrancois
Business Phone: (404) 524-2200

Project Location: Atlanta, GA
Completion Date: 06/05/2017
Owner: EYP Architecture & Engineering

Architects Involved:
Betsy Beaman, Don Glitsis, Portia Ellis, Jennifer Wilkinson, Lisa Lin, Robin Kirkman, Brenda Dietz, Janna Kotlyar, Madison Montgomery, Chad McLeroy, Moses Waindi, Tom Danner

Additional Team:
Jesse Fortner – Uzun + Case, David Barrett – Barrett Woodyard, Steve Williams – Humphries & Co.

Project Description

The 100 Peachtree Street office space was selected based on its soaring ceiling heights, modern building style, and location, location, location. The urban fabric of downtown Atlanta allows commuters, marta-goers, cyclists and walkers from nearby neighborhoods to easily access the site. Program includes an art gallery, 50 workstations, a training conference room, executive conference room, team work areas, kitchen, interior’s library, printing room, and storage. The floor plan comprises of a common building core, and an open plan on the Mezzanine and Second Floor. With a focus on workplace wellness, the design drivers became movement, natural light, and memory.

The design team elected to open-up the second floor and introduce a stair to connect the space, initiate movement, and encourage collaboration between teams. The design also provided varying styles of team work areas throughout for flexibility. These include standing-height work tables, open collaborative pin-up areas, sit-down team tables, closed conference rooms, and private offices. This provides employees with a range of team work options, while activating the space and work day.

The Equitable building was built in the International style with soaring exterior glass windows, which puts the office on display and allows for an abundance of natural light. With a focus on daylight and health, workstations were located closest to the glass. On both floors, an open plan was implemented to provide views to nearby Woodruff Park, fountains and Fairlie Poplar neighborhood, and allow light to filter into the full depth of the office space. Walls and private functions were located at the core of the building, with work spaces along the exterior glass walls. The art gallery was aligned with the main entrance to showcase contemporary, local and regional art, to be accessible to the public, and to set the stage for the museum-style design throughout the office space. The tall white walls create an open canvas for art and architecture.

100 Peachtree Street holds an account of being a long-term iconic high rise in Atlanta. The office space as well holds the history of its previous tenants. The Mezzanine and Second Floor previously housed a bank, a FedEx store, a restaurant, and an office space. This narrative resulted in creative design thinking for the space and interesting finds during the demolition. Two of the bank’s vaults were still in place, as well as a concrete ‘safe room’ in the bank’s offices. Demolition included the removal of concrete walls and rooms, miscellaneous finishes, and layers of old flooring. The design team elected to utilize the bank’s vault and display the unique vault door as a design feature. The Mezzanine and Second floor now have a unified design throughout and kept a portion of the space’s past as a memory.

Design Challenge

The Equitable Building’s Peachtree Street address, lofty Mezzanine space, and historic international style is iconic; however, the space also presented both tangible design challenges. Anticipated design challenges included converting a one floor office into two floors—separating the staff, materials, and equipment. The team’s response to addressing the dual floor challenge was to create a communicating stair between the two floors for open circulation. After collaborating with structural engineers and building management, an opening was cut in the second-floor slab, and a 22’ tall communicating stair with open steel, glass railings, and stainless-steel fittings was installed. The design focused on an open feel, showcasing structure at work. This stair now acts as a center point, and stands as a landmark for the office while simultaneously promoting wellness for the employees. The office is currently undergoing Fitwel Certification, benchmarking the project as a leader in healthy workplace environments.

Physical Context

A striking feature of the interior office space is the 16’ tall glass exterior walls surrounding the Mezzanine floor, creating grand spaces, views to nearby parks, and natural light to the staff. The design focused on moving the workstations close to the windows to maximize views and natural light. The design team also kept the finishes simple and modern with black floors and white walls-- speaking to the building’s exterior modern style and amplifying the natural light. The primary goal was to provide full access to daylight at all workspaces for wellness.