One of the largest urban megaprojects in the U.S. has taken a major step forward, with the unveiling of the design for One Centennial Yards, the very first ground-up tower at Centennial Yards – the transformative Foster + Partners-designed in the heart of Atlanta.
Envisioned by global architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in partnership with Atlanta’s Goode Van Slyke Architecture (GVSA), One Centennial Yards will offer 28 stories and over 500,000 square feet of office space, aligned with the innovative goals of Centennial Yards and the evolving health and wellness needs of major tenants. Expressed as three slender towers, the building’s facade is inspired by the industrial and railroad heritage of Downtown Atlanta.
With 19,000 square feet of amenities and 21,980 square feet of outdoor spaces, One Centennial Yards is designed to provide open-air environments on every floor, including terraces on every level, large retractable doors on the building’s amenity floor and landscaped rooftops. Designed with the post-pandemic workspace in mind, One Centennial Yards provides tenants with opportunities to gather and connect outdoors in a new modern workspace that prioritizes health and wellness.
Centennial Yards will bring 12 million square feet of creative office space, retail, mixed-use housing, and more to Atlanta’s downtown, applying a people-focused and walkable urban vision to a long neglected and underutilized part of the city known as “the gulch,” where the rail lines that once ran through this area and helped establish Atlanta have been largely replaced by below-grade and surface parking lots, leaving a large hole in the heart of this vibrant and diverse city.
Designed by a global team led by world-renowned architecture firms Foster + Partners and Perkins&Will, the 50-acre Centennial Yards development will include new city blocks, public open space and up to 12 million square feet of new modern office space, retail, hotel and residential buildings, a world-class sports-entertainment district and an innovation campus, all in a walkable and mass transit-oriented environment that celebrates the outdoor lifestyle of Atlanta while facilitating connections with people-focused spaces.
Centennial Yards is surrounded by the region’s top attractions, including the Atlanta Hawks’ State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Stadium — home to the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United — on the east, as well as MARTA stations connecting the site with the rest of the city. Source by SOM and images Courtesy of M18 Public Relations.