Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Reflecting on AS+GG's journey, we're revisiting some of our favorite design concepts that, while never built, continue to inspire and inform our work. Great ideas never go to waste; they evolve and find new applications in future AS+GG designs. One standout was Yang Fan Tower, a project aimed to harness environmental assets to boost performance and generate power—principles central to all current AS+GG designs. Inspired by the rich cultural tapestry of Nanjing and the Binjiang Business District, this tower drew from the legacy of Chinese Admiral Zheng and the legendary shipyards of Nanjing. In Chinese, yang fan describes raising the sail on a boat before a journey, which inspired the tower's name. Admiral Zheng’s voyages symbolized exploration and innovation, themes at the heart of our design. Designed to be a beacon of performance and sustainability, the tower would have utilized the sun, wind, and rain to enhance its efficiency. It was also set to feature sensors to monitor an array of parameters including occupancy, RFID presence, indoor air quality, daylight, temperature, humidity, noise levels, etc. These sensors would connect to the building’s smartphone app, providing real-time information that would be used to facilitate smart control over the building.

Exciting news in Zawya Arabic on AS+GG's upcoming Forbes International Tower: "Magnom Properties, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Rawabi Holding, has announced a groundbreaking achievement for its upcoming Forbes International Tower, as it becomes the first tower in the world to officially register for the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) Zero Carbon Certification. By registering for this prestigious certification, the Forbes International Tower, designed by AS+GG Architecture and set to be the world’s first net-zero-carbon tower, amply demonstrates its credible and comprehensive approach to carbon neutrality and sets new milestones in green design construction." Check out the full article below! https://lnkd.in/gxzjgdJd

Last month, AS+GG kicked off the first "hack-a-thon" of 2024, guided by our Design Director, Anthony Viola. This annual event is more than just a workshop; it’s a dynamic platform that fuels creativity, advances technology, and integrates sustainability with cutting-edge design. Over a weekend of innovation, our talented team tackled exciting projects that pushed the boundaries of digital design, fabrication, and environmental responsiveness. Highlights include: 🥚 Creating and testing 3D printable bio-materials such as eggshells sourced from a local bakery. 🎶 Sampling the magnetic fields present in organic materials to create geometric forms and audio soundscapes 🔌 Designing and fabricating a responsive electronic privacy wall that responds to light and human presence. ☀️ Crafting responsive forms utilizing 3D-printed filaments, including thermo-chromatic and UV-sensitive materials. 👗 Investigating the integration of 3D-printed textile patterns to create transformable fashion pieces. The hack-a-thon format is a vital, vibrant program that fosters collaboration and interdisciplinary learning, allowing our team to explore, discuss, and envision new possibilities for the built environment. Here’s to more groundbreaking ideas and sustainable solutions!

Introducing 830 Brickell - the first stand-alone Class A+ office building to launch in Miami in over a decade! Expected to be completed this year, the soaring 57-story, 724-foot-tall tower introduces a premium commercial building to the city’s booming financial district that seeks to reinvent the workplace lifestyle for the highest-caliber global workforce. The building has unprecedented lifestyle offerings for a commercial tower, which will promote out-of-the-box collaboration, work-life balance, and wellness. An eight-story parking garage acts as the tower’s podium and is wrapped in a kinetic wall, a sprawling sheet of aluminum squares that move in the wind as they reflect the Downtown Miami neighborhood's movement and light. The dynamic facade is a concept driven by the movement of the train, people on the street, and cars in the garage. It speaks to the life or active components of the base of the building that are visibly accessible from the street. The fluidity of the design combined with the dappled approach to light is important to the quality of Art in Miami and to elevate the building as art. AS+GG Partner Gordon Gill explains that the inspiration for the tower’s façade "comes from the environment, both natural and built. The materials palette, highlighted by the strong Miami sun, was significant. Color, texture, material, and form are collectively integrated into the project. We were also inspired by the energetic international business culture of Miami and the desire to attract tenants that are both active and modern and appreciate sophisticated luxury with a youthful twist." The tower has impressive panoramic ocean and city views, floor-to-ceiling windows, and column-free spans. The progressive environmentally efficient design was designed to reach LEED Platinum certification and features state-of-the-art digital infrastructure with Wired certification. Once complete, it will be Brickell's tallest office building and Miami's second-tallest office building. Development: OKO Group, Cain International Lighting Design: Office for Visual Interaction • OVI

Nagham Obaid (EMDC ‘23) shares why she wanted to attend Master of Science in Executive Management for Design and Construction at Northwestern University's (EMDC) latest BuiltX event and hear from Gordon Gill, founding partner at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), about his approach to leadership and design. “Gordon Gill is known for his sustainable designs,” said Obaid, a project manager for Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), the largest electric utility in Illinois. “His work emphasizes energy efficiency and advanced-technology integration, which is particularly inspiring for someone like me working in a power company.” #architecture #engineering #construction #sustainability #design

AS+GG’s CarbonLab talks about lowering building carbon emissions by using zero-energy concrete for Crain's Chicago Business's Content Studio: “We must work with cement and concrete manufacturers to decarbonize the industry, rather than assume concrete can be replaced.” AS+GG’s Sustainability Director, Christopher Drew, PhD says, “What limits us is not our imagination or even technology, it is our failure to see past what we have done to see what we could become. We encourage those in the construction industry who would like to be part of this innovation to reach out to our team. Check out link below for full article! https://lnkd.in/druvx3hZ

Thank you Architectural Digest India for highlighting AS+GG’s Central Park Tower as one of the five unique buildings to earn a spot in Guinness World Records. AS+GG's Central Park Tower is recorded as the tallest cantilevered building at nearly 1,550 feet! It’s also the tallest residential building in the world, certified by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). Completed in 2021, Central Park Tower is an orthogonal design, utilizing the large cantilever to take advantage of the site and views. After the cantilever comes to its vertical terminus, the central tower shaft and the blade wall extend upward to a final elevation of 1,478 feet 10 inches. The residential portion begins 300 feet above the ground with 179 luxury units ranging from one to four bedrooms, studio suites, full floor, duplex, and triplex residences. Structural elements are discreetly located between the residential units, resulting in floor-to-ceiling windows with unencumbered views and layouts. Counteracting wind loads was an important part of the design process for the highest residential tower on earth. As the tower climbs vertically, the corners set back and notch, helping offset wind loads. This allows the floor area on each level to reduce and better achieve the desirable unit size and layouts of the upper two tranches, while simultaneously accommodating private terraces for special residential units. A tuned mass damper with a mass of approximately 1,100 tons improves the acceleration performance of the building and was incorporated into the tower design on the 94th floor. For an inside look at the tower, you can check out the penthouse featured in Netflix’s Owning Manhattan with Ryan Serhant! First photo by Joaquin Stearns with all exterior photos copyrighted to Extell. Interiors by Rottet Studio and photos by Evan Joseph Photo. Architect of Record: Adamson Associates Architects https://lnkd.in/gGf76JsS 

New renderings of the AS+GG-designed Freed Hotel & Residences are in! The first-ever Freed Corp. hotel in Canada will offer an unparalleled blend of luxury, style, and sophistication through hotel-style living. As AS+GG Partner Gordon Gill explains, "Located at the corner of Adelaide and Duncan Streets, the 63-story tower will offer residents and visitors spectacular views of the city and Lake Ontario. Shining against the city’s already impressive skyline, the tower is set to become an instant icon. Diamond-shaped facets create a distinctive arrival and retail experience at street level, while the complimentary faceted silhouette of the tower’s top creates a distinguished identity within the Toronto skyline." The project will have 100 luxury hotel rooms and 400 luxury condominiums. The 62nd-floor Sky Lobby will feature a grand formal staircase that leads to the 63rd-floor restaurant and bar with a 70-foot-tall space below a sloping skylight. Other amenities include a boutique spa, a terrace and outdoor garden, additional private spaces for entertaining and dining, a fitness and yoga studio, and a private theater room. The tower will also have convenient valet parking and a full-service concierge, among other tenant services. Takashi Murakami’s famous artwork, “Together with the Flower Parent and Child,” will be displayed prominently inside the entrance lobby and the Katsuya Japanese restaurant by Sam Nazarian’s Disruptive Group by sbe Lifestyle Hospitality will be on the second floor.

It's official! 160 Front Street is LEED® Platinum Certified - a major achievement for a commercial office tower. In March 2024, the building received its final LEED review and was awarded 83 points, with zero denied, to achieve over the required points for Platinum under LEED v2009 Core and Shell. The building achieved LEED® Platinum through active and passive sustainable strategies. Daylight harvesting controls help the building yield significant savings in lighting energy consumption and maximize the energy-saving potential of the building’s high-performance curtain wall system. 160 Front Street tenants will enjoy unparalleled amenities like a green roof at the podium level and several outdoor “inlets” with access from their workspaces. An indoor green space at the top of the tower with expansive city views is a plant-filled sky garden available for tenants to enjoy. To ensure continued sustainability monitoring 160 Front Street will be subject to the rigorous standards of internal Green at Work®by Cadillac Fairview, the client’s award-winning sustainability program. Congratulations to the entire 160 Front Street multidisciplinary team for this milestone! Check out these new photos by Toronto's own Dustin Fournier!

Congratulations to our master modelmaker Nicholas Berchtold! Architizer A+ Awards gave a special mention to his model for AS+GG's Runmao Tower. This solid polished aluminum model showcases the tower, which will be one of the tallest in Nanjing when complete. Runmao Tower’s solid polished aluminum model was milled using three- and four-axis CNC Machines. Polished aluminum creates a raw, pure form that is honest in its materiality and elegantly reflects color and light. The model's form is designed first in Rhino and the digital model is then handed to Nick who refines and dissects the form into mill-able pieces. Using CAM software he mills each piece and reassembles it to form the model. Pieces are held together using screws and magnets to create a seamless form. Runmao's model has 55 hidden screws, 48 hidden magnets, 60 individual milled aluminum components, and one milled black Corian component for the road surface. Check out the full award entry and the other amazing projects recognized! https://lnkd.in/gzaH4v3F