Propositions: Designing through Land - Announcements e-flux.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from e-flux.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
At Amazon’s HQ2, Pretending to Be Green Takes a Lot of Energy Curbed 2/22/2021 Audrey Wachs
In most offices, the design commitment to nature starts and ends with a potted plant. But Amazon has bigger architectural ambitions (and heftier profits with which to realize them) for its latest corporate Eden in Arlington, Virginia.
In renderings released earlier this month, Amazon teased the Helix, the leafy centerpiece of its upcoming Arlington headquarters. Its driving feature is a forested path that snakes up a 350-foot-tall, conical tower (the effect is that of a soft-serve cone or, as one architecture critic said on social media, the poop emoji). The green trail will be landscaped with trees and plants native to the state, specifically the Blue Ridge Mountains, the 550-mile range that runs through the western part of Virginia. When it opens in 2025, workers will be able to step outdoors on every floor and use the path to access other levels.