PROJECT REPORT: TALL BUILDINGS 43


allowed the floor area ratio (FAR) to “jump quite a bit,” says Rodenkirch. The building faces Fulton Market, sitting at the edge of the historic district to the south. So the architects had to strike a balance between providing a lot of floor area (about half a million square feet), and three and four storey historic brick buildings. The question was, “how do you put this much area on a site when you are right next to this very lively, historic street?”


Design process Despite SOM’s vast experience in the city, this was their first project with Thor. “When we met with them it became pretty clear they had very aspirational goals, both in performance but also design.” The architects were also attracted by the fact they had secured funding, had a “tight timeline,” and they “knew what they wanted.” He adds: “They said you have to give us something that’s going to be hyper- competitive,” (there were several competing schemes under construction in the area). The architect asserts this was “kind of a best-case scenario, because if you were going to build here, you had to do something special, in terms of both the quality of the building and its performance.” He adds that it’s a strategic


ADF JUNE 2022


focus of the practice to encourage clients to go further on sustainability: “We knew energy goals were going to be difficult, but that’s what we are looking to do – high performance, and net zero buildings.” The client was “very hands on,” insisting on weekly meetings, and there was the expected high level of community consultation, where the architects could explain the positive impact of the building’s design fully.


Led to higher LEED levels There are a handful of LEED Platinum buildings in the midwest, says SOM’s Kevin, and WELL is yet to be fully established. The architects benchmarked adjacent buildings, one was WELL certified and LEED Gold, “and that became the minimum to exceed,” with the contract for 800 Fulton Market specifying LEED Gold and WELL Certification. However, as they worked through the design with the client, “it became clear that we needed to aggressively exceed the target, and go for LEED Platinum.”


The client realised this would help them lease space, as “it is what tenants want,” namely verifiable sustainability standards. The biggest driver behind the low carbon design, says Kevin, was operational energy, and it worked with Chicago-based M&E


WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK


“In 2017 BOMA – the US standard for measuring office buildings – confirmed that fitted out terraces could be


considered rentable” Kevin Rodenkirch


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