The design responds to the need for dense development in San Francisco and offers new models of sustainability by reinterpreting the city’s architectural traditions. It develops the classic bay window, a familiar feature of early San Francisco homes, reinterpreting it in the context of a high-rise. Gradually winding their way up the tower, the bays offer sweeping views, natural light throughout the day and fresh air, and give the building its distinctive shape and texture – the result of a particular focus on the building’s energy performance and how it feels. By extending the living spaces inside and offering platforms from which to view the city from all angles, the bays make each residence a corner unit.

A sophisticated curtain wall façade system allows sections to be attached to a repeating structural slab from within the building, reducing the need for an on-site tower crane and limiting energy consumption and neighborhood impact during construction. The bays allow for a high-performance façade that is 51 percent opaque without obstructing nearly 180-degree views in each unit. The high-performance façade, along with an innovative VRF cooling system, allows the building to exceed the ambitious California Title 24 energy standards. This, along with a state-of-the-art graywater collection system, green roofs, and high-efficiency equipment, has awarded the project LEED Gold certification.

Residents will have access to a private restaurant, public spaces, meeting rooms, recreation areas, a fitness center, children’s playroom and a pet care area. Moreover, there will be an underground parking lot for 340 cars, charging stations for electric cars and bicycle parking. The ground floor will feature retail, a food court and small cafes.

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The Square: The plaza with terraces is located in the center of the museum complex, surrounded by the museum building to the south and the café to the north. The plaza frames a postcard view of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains beyond. With an integrated 230-seat amphitheater, the plaza can host outdoor events throughout the season, from winter to summer.

Atrium in the Level 1 lobby: A skylight illuminates the 40-foot-high atrium, and perforated fiberglass-reinforced plaster screens provide views from the lobby. Four balconies of varying heights overlooking the atrium reorient visitors in this central space as they move through the galleries.

Level 1, 2, 3 galleries: DS+R designed 20,000 square feet of gallery space in the form of overlapping petals that wrap around a central atrium. Skylights in the seams between these petals provide soft daylight emanating from the central atrium space, ending in vertical windows around the building’s perimeter. This lighting strategy simultaneously serves as an orientation, guiding visitors back to the atrium and positioning them along a trajectory moving through the galleries, which feature immersive interactive exhibitions designed by Gallagher Associates.

Level 1 Theater: The 2000 square foot theater can seat 130 people. Two rows of seats can be removed to accommodate a maximum of 26 wheelchairs, allowing the entire Paralympic hockey team to sit together.

Tier 2 Event Space: The 1,300-square-foot event space has panoramic views from downtown Colorado Springs to the Rocky Mountains. The space can also open up to an adjacent 500 sq. ft. outdoor terrace. Café and Education Room: A 2800 sq. ft. café with an additional 400 sq. ft. outdoor dining area. The café’s landscaped roof showcases native plantings that reflect the changing seasons.

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Vertical landscaping is increasingly being used not only in interiors, but also on the facades of buildings, including high-rise buildings. This is especially true in modern architecture in Singapore, where green facades in a tropical climate help create a comfortable microclimate inside the buildings, in addition to their aesthetic function. This approach is used not only in the construction of small buildings, but also in high-rise buildings, such as the Oasia Hotel Downtown. Late last year, Heatherwick Studio’s multi-storey EDEN residential building appeared in Singapore, which many call a “vertical garden”. This is exactly the effect the architects wanted to achieve.

At the foot of the building a tropical garden is planted and, according to the idea of the architects, the vertical gardening of the facades of the EDEN becomes a visual continuation of this vegetation. The green facades consist of 20 species of plants, which will grow over time, and the appearance of the building will constantly change. “The design of the building is inspired by the image of a sapling that has taken root right below the streets of the city. In this way, the architecture elevates the landscape of urban gardens into the sky, forming an original vertical garden,” Heatherwick Studio noted.

The multi-storey EDEN residential building has a height of 104.5 meters. The tower has a total of 20 residential floors, with each floor occupying a separate apartment. The basis of each floor is a Y-shaped plan: in the center there is a large open space, and individual rooms with balconies radiate from it. The first residential floor is 27 meters above the ground, thanks to which the EDEN has an impressive lobby with a high ceiling. This was done so that the garden at the foot of the building does not obstruct the view from the windows.

This original layout and the green facades are not all features of the tower. Concrete played an important role in the construction of the EDEN. Firstly, the material keeps the interior cool. Second, the concrete blocks, because of their texture, have important symbolic meaning. Heatherwick Studio sought to give the walls of the building a unique shape. Therefore they created special moulds for casting the concrete blocks, taking into account the peculiarities of the topography of Singapore. As a result, the panels were not smooth – their surfaces are a kind of topographical map of the area. But flat polished concrete was also used in construction. With its help the balconies were able to give smooth organic forms.

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