Tall & Urban News

Amazon originally revealed plans for the Second Phase of the PenPlace complex in February 2021. Now after receiving public feedback, the masterplan for the project has been revised. The four buildings of PenPlace including The Helix, a spiraling glass tower, were all designed by the architect NBBJ.

One goal that the redesign addressed was making the corporate campus feel more like a neighborhood. Plans to enhance the pedestrian and bike connections to the site were added as well as adding protected bike lanes and widening sidewalks in some areas. There will also be 10,000 square meters (2.5 acres) of open green space that will connect all four of the buildings. In addition, the non-Helix towers now will have different colored and patterned façades so the buildings will have individual identities.

Several of the design changes that were made helped enhance the project’s sustainability. The solar panels on top of the three non-Helix building have been doubled and now create shaded canopies on the roofs. In addition, changes to the landscape will help the site sequester stormwater runoff more efficiently. Overall, the project is targeting LEED Platinum certification, aiming for all the buildings to only operate on electricity that is generated from on- and off-site renewable resource.

Public feedback on the new masterplan, through the Arlington County website, closed on 7 November. With the new changes, the approval of the scheme is not expected to be granted until 2022. However, it is not clear if this delay will impact the deadline of having the campus completed by 2025.

For more on this story, go to The Architect’s Newspaper.