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285 Delaware Office Building

HHL Architects won a design competition to lead the design of this new 5-story office building, located on prestigious Delaware Avenue, adjacent to downtown. The owner's program was to create a landmark building that transcended the historic styles of the surrounding context, yet would be a contemporary, comfortable neighbor.

The urban building is placed at the sidewalk. The entrance/elevator lobby is transparent so as to be highly visible from the street and the rear parking area. The ground plane of the lobby extends through and outside of the building on both the sidewalk and parking sides, to create a pronounced threshold entrance experience. The envelope is composed of metal panels, glass and limestone. The ground floor wall along the street is stone, with projecting storefront bays. The bisecting, 80' tall, wall marking the entrance is polished black porcelain tile, which allows the adjacent glass curtain wall and entrance materials to reflect on the surface. High performance glass and sun screens are used to retain the transparency, while increasing the functional performance.