Posted
on Fri, Nov. 22, 2002
"Republished
with permission from The Charlotte Observer.
Copyright owned by The Charlotte Observer.
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Flair
meets function
RICHARD
MASCHAL
Architecture |
The marble is from China, the architects from
Atlanta, the look from the 1920s. But the 46-story Hearst Tower, the
city's newest skyscraper, is pure Charlotte.
It's flashy, its bold profile already a marker on
the skyline. And its interior spaces are lush. Most importantly, the
design of the building and the Hearst Plaza on North Tryon Street
responds to issues that have roiled Charlotte for 25 years:
Should tall buildings meet the street with blank
walls or welcoming entrances and retail at the ground floor? Can we
combine old and new as we re-create uptown? And how, amid these redwoods
of glass and steel, can places for people be created?
A Bank of America project, the $160 million tower
succeeds in these and other measures. That's fitting. In a way, Hearst
Tower is a culmination of the skyscrapers built here over 30 years.
Likely, it will be the last tall building Charlotte will see for some
time.
Designed by Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart
& Associates, the tower is part of a family. The daddy is the
60-story BofA headquarters, the city's tallest building as of 1992, done
by Cesar Pelli. Hearst Tower, in second place, and the 30-story IJL
Financial Center across North Tryon, which opened in 1997, are siblings.
Smallwood, Reynolds, which also designed IJL, had
the assignment to relate the buildings -- but not slavishly. They do
have the same exterior palette of colors and similar window designs. But
the need to connect the Hearst Tower to the Pelli building resulted in
two important design decisions.
One was to put glass and metal triangular
extensions at the corners of the tower so the building gets wider as it
gets higher, although its walls remain plumb.
The flaring enables the shorter Hearst Tower to
"stand up" to Pelli's elegant rocket of a skyscraper. With its
steroidal heft, the tower also relates well to the 11-story base from
which the shaft rises. That massive block-long structure between Fifth
and Sixth streets along College Street contains a 1,400-space parking
garage.
The other Pelli-related design decision was the
"look" of the building. Because Pelli had used some art deco
detailing, the Atlanta architects adopted that 1920s art style, but they
went whole hog.
The result is a bright and lively building that
responds to the sun and is also a jazzy beacon on the night sky. The
silvery cowl at the top, with its triangular openings, recalls the upper
stories of a great '20s art deco skyscraper, William Van Alen's Chrysler
Building in New York.
Art deco motif
The architects carried the art deco theme
throughout, relating details inside and out with an inventive use of
materials.
For instance, the precast concrete panels on the
exterior are fluted, as were the columns on classical temples, the
better to catch the light. Some of the marble in the lobby also is
fluted, and those thin parallel lines show up on the elevator doors.
The sunburst design -- a typical art deco motif --
appears over the Tryon Street entrance and repeats in the ceiling of the
Tryon and College street lobbies. It's also on the exterior precast
panels. The winged fixtures on the corners of the 11-story base -- a
Chrysler-esque touch -- echo in the light fixtures over the elevators.
The materials are rich, evoking the art deco
period with a palette of black, white, gray and bronze. Black granite
bands the exterior. The marble in the lobby is also in the elevator
cabs.
The curving bronze railing in the College Street
lobby has 38 bronze grills from a 1920s Paris department store, designed
by Edgar Brandt, a well-known art deco designer.
The lobbies are not as grand or as boldly colored
as Pelli's in the BofA headquarters. What may be the building's most
impressive space is one the public will never see -- the
60,000-square-foot trading floor.
Now a huge room under construction following a
design by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's New York office, it has a
soaring 50-foot ceiling and a two-story glass wall flooding it with the
pure north light favored by artists.
A human scale
The space the public will see -- and enjoy -- is
the plaza on Tryon Street. While Founder's Hall in BofA's headquarters
has shops, fountains and public space inside, Hearst Plaza is outdoors
on the street. Along with The Green, Wachovia's innovative park on South
Tryon, it establishes a new standard for urban space in the city.
Designed by Shook, a Charlotte firm, it is
well-proportioned, giving the massive tower a more human scale.
Older buildings bracket the plaza on each side --
the historic Montaldo's, now the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, and the
vernacular structure housing Ri-Ra's pub, buildings that were not
destroyed for the new development but made part of it.
The mix-and-match facades of the buildings on the
plaza also knit old and new together. The sleek aluminum look of the
craft museum's gift shop contrasts with a red tile front opposite.
Bank of America, which spent more than $10 million
to convert the Montaldo's building into a museum in 1999, paid for the
new shop front on the plaza and also for the limestone covering the
museum's plaza wall, again a joining of old and new.
The tower and plaza are rich with art. The BofA
gallery in the tower lobby will show the bank's collection. The large
windows of the craft museum's shop and of gallery W.D.O., when filled
with objects, will put lively color and form on the plaza.
Coming in December: a 10-foot cast glass sculpture
by Howard Ben Tre, with fiber optic light and cascades of water.
Its soft green glow will be a beacon on the
street. Surrounding it and nearby is the amenity every tall building
needs (but Charlotte's have not always had) -- a place to sit.
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In a
way, the Hearst Tower is a culmination of the skyscrapers built here
over 30 years.
Likely, it will be the last tall building Charlotte will see for
some time |
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The 47th floor conference center reception area of the Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, LLP
law firm features a spectacular view to the south and east through
the angled
windows hidden in the building's silvery cowl.
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The elevator hall
continues the themes of black, white and bronze, with art deco
touches.
The winged fixtures of the corners of the building's massive base
are echoed
in the light fixtures over the elevators.
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The designers used art
deco detailing outside and inside the building, including a black,
white
and bronze color scheme and somewhat large, over-stuffed furniture
in the main lobby.
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The space the
public will see - and enjoy - is the plaza on Tryon Street. While Founder's Hall in the BofA headquarters has shops and public
space inside, Hearst Plaza is on the street.
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