Tall & Urban News

The planned Innovation and Qualification Center (IQC) in Vinings has a new look yet again.

Designed by global architecture firm Gensler, the 420-foot (128-meter) structure is expected to house the bulk of elevator company thyssenkrupp’s new headquarters. It’s under construction next to SunTrust Park and The Battery, with plans to peer over Interstate 285.

On 5 December 2019, thyssenkrupp officials shared updated renderings for the high-rise portion, IQC Test Tower, the centerpiece of the company’s planned US$200 million campus. That part of the complex has been designed to house test facilities for thyssenkrupp’s elevator concepts, which will travel not just vertically, but side-to-side.

The new drawings blend some elements from prior plans, maintaining the sleekness of the tower and, in some ways, reverting to earlier visions for the glassy office block planned at the base. Other renderings show that the upper-floor event space would be visible from the outside. In a much earlier version of the plans, the tower was expected to feature bulky side paneling.

As of September 2019, the top three floors of the tower were expected to be reserved for event space, and the company’s business and engineering operations would find a home in the below offices.

A thyssenkrupp spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about what the updated designs mean for the construction timeline, but, at last check, the project was on track to go vertical in December 2019 and wrap up in 2021.

For more on this story, go to Curbed Atlanta.