The redesigned ground level experience at 60 Wall Street in New York City aims to attract a variety of top-tier tenants. The building had long had a sole tenant, Deutsche Bank AG, but they recently relocated to a new location, according to an article in Bloomberg. The building is undergoing a US$250million makeover to attract multiple tenants to its 55 floors.

Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox, the plans for the reimagined approach into the building include a soaring atrium, redesigning the building’s lobbies, and updating the podium façade with a modern expression. Real estate investment trust Paramount Group, Inc. is redeveloping the project.

Providing direct access to Wall Street and Pine Street from the New York City Subway, and uniting the two thoroughfares with a pedestrian promenade, in the KPF design the building’s Privately Owned Public Space (POPS) is transformed into an open, light-filled, and verdant urban room. Arriving from the subway, one ascends into the new atrium through a grand staircase, animated by a 100-foot-tall interior green wall, that spans the full length of the block. Above, a new skylight will be cut through the podium opening the public room to the sky. The skylight also provides a visual connection between the trading floors above the atrium, which is activated by a restaurant and café, and both of the building’s lobbies, as well as Pine and Wall Streets.

In its current state, 60 Wall Street’s lobbies are separated from the public and retail spaces by the architecture of the building’s façade, which limits the ease of movement and creates a social barrier between the users. KPF’s design unites the lobbies, retail, and public spaces of the building. The new lobbies add a mezzanine overlooking the space and feature a large green wall as well as borrowed views into the atrium and retail areas.

Working in a landmarked district, changes to the exterior of 60 Wall Street’s podium replace the existing portico’s double row of columns with a single row. By retaining the concept of a colonnade screen, popular throughout the district, the new portico reinterprets the formal language while allowing more light to reach the interior spaces. New large-format windows on the façade increase transparency into the activities of the atrium and lobby.

Improvements to the office floors include enhanced ventilation systems that utilize high-efficiency MERV 15 filtration and increased outside air per person with capabilities of providing 100 percent outside air to the spaces in ideal weather conditions.

Construction on the renovation is slated to begin in the summer of 2022.

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