The second phase of Amazon’s headquarters complex in Arlington, Va., will be a 2.8-million-sf campus with three 22-story buildings that target LEED Platinum certification.
The Phase 2 site, called PenPlace, will be anchored by The Helix, a 370,000-sf spiral shaped building that, according to Amazon, will feature indoor garden spaces, an Artist in Residence program, a 1,500-person meeting center, and an outdoor hill climb open to the public on select weekends every month. (SCAPE is PenPlace’s landscape architect.)
Amazon sent its latest designs to the Arlington County Board on Tuesday. If the plans are approved, ground breaking for PenPlace could be early next year, with delivery scheduled for 2025.
Amazon—which in 2019 faced community opposition to its plans to build a headquarters complex in the New York City borough of Queens—is proactively presenting itself to Arlington residents as a friend of the community and a corporate citizen. The tech giant has donated more than $19 million to local nonprofits, and recently announced a $2 billion Housing Equity Fund whose starting investment will be to create more than 1,300 affordable homes in Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood, where PenPlace would be built.
A dog park will be one of the community amenities that Amazon's headquarters will offer.
The proposed design for PenPlace includes:
•2.5-plus acres of public open space and connected walkways, a dog run, a 250-seat amphitheater, woodlands, and art installations;
•Over 950 onsite bike spaces, including 180 for visitors. There will be one-quarter mile of new protected bike lanes;
•100,000 sf for retail pavilions, walkways, and space for a dozen local dealers and eateries;
•A child-care center;
•A plaza that supports farmers markets and food vendors; and
•A 20,000-sf community space that supports education, science, and technology, and is flexible enough to accommodate small and large meetings and classes.
PenPlace’s sustainable features include an onsite water reclamation system for reducing cooling, irrigation, and flushing demand by 50%. Site-wide landscape will integrate and clean 100% of the complex’s rainfall runoff.
The project will include an all-electric central heating and cooling system that runs on 100% renewable energy from a solar farm in southern Virginia. (Amazon has pledged to be net-carbon-neutral as a company by 2040.)
PenPlace will include 100,000 sf for local retail tenants and a pavilion.
GEOMETRY IN ACTION
Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle is distinguished by The Spheres, ball-shaped workplaces that are also home to over 30,000 plants from 30-plus countries. Amazon is looking to achieve a similar connection with nature for its Arlington workers via The Helix, which will offer a variety of alternative work environments. (Whiting-Turner Construction is PenPlace’s contractor.)
The Helix will have two walkable paths of landscaped terrain that spiral the outside of the buildings and feature plants familiar to hikers of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.
As at The Spheres, Amazon plans to offer public tours of The Helix several weekends a month.
A MULTI-BILLION INVESTMENT
Once completed, Amazon's Arlington headquarters will distribute 850,000 sf of office space over five buildings.
PenPlace would be north of where Amazon is building Metropolitan Park, a 2.1-milllion-sf mixed-use project. The first phase includes two 22-story towers, as well as some renovated office space.
Metropolitan Park—designed by ZGF Architects, with Clark Construction as its builder and James Corner Field Operations as its landscape designer—is scheduled to start opening in 2023, John Schoettler, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Real Estate Facilities, told WUSA9. Amazon states that Metropolitan Park will have 500 bike spaces, over 2.5 acres of new and renovated park space, 69,000 sf of ground-floor retail and a 700-person meeting center available to the public.
Amazon’s initial investment in its headquarters plans has been $2.5 billion. All told, Amazon intends to have 850,000 sf of office space for 25,000 employees in Arlington, Va., by mid-decade.
Related Stories
Projects | Mar 2, 2022
Manufacturing plant gets second life as a mixed-use development
Wire Park, a mixed-use development being built near Athens, Ga., will feature 130 residential units plus 225,000 square feet of commercial, office, and retail space. About an hour east of downtown Atlanta, the 66-acre development also will boast expansive public greenspace.
Office Buildings | Feb 23, 2022
The Beam on Farmer, Arizona’s first mass timber, multi-story office building tops out
The Beam on Farmer, Arizona’s first mass timber, multi-story office building, topped out on Feb. 10, 2022.
Resiliency | Feb 15, 2022
Design strategies for resilient buildings
LEO A DALY's National Director of Engineering Kim Cowman takes a building-level look at resilient design.
Office Buildings | Feb 1, 2022
Mennica Legacy Tower: GP's latest office complex in Warsaw is uniquely designed
Mennica Legacy Tower marks GP’s first completed project in Poland. The Mennica Legacy Tower was developed by an affiliate of Golub & Company LLC and Mennica Towers GGH MT Sp z o o S.K.A, and delivered in collaboration with Epstein, a design firm with offices in Chicago and Warsaw.
Laboratories | Jan 28, 2022
3 must-know strategies for developers in today’s life sciences industry
While the life sciences industry had been steadily growing, this growth exploded when the pandemic arrived—and there is no indication that this lightning-fast pace will slow down any time soon.
Office Buildings | Jan 26, 2022
BlackRock’s Innovation Hub in Atlanta showcases its global design guidelines
The two-story space harkens to the city’s culture and past.
Coronavirus | Jan 20, 2022
Advances and challenges in improving indoor air quality in commercial buildings
Michael Dreidger, CEO of IAQ tech startup Airsset speaks with BD+C's John Caulfield about how building owners and property managers can improve their buildings' air quality.
3D Printing | Jan 12, 2022
Using 3D-printed molds to create unitized window forms
COOKFOX designer Pam Campbell and Gate Precast's Mo Wright discuss the use of 3D-printed molds from Oak Ridge National Lab to create unitized window panels for One South First, a residential-commercial high-rise in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Headquarters | Oct 28, 2021
Florida’s Seagate Development Group tackles design-build projects from a developer’s vantage
A “single point of contact” for clients, says its CEO.
Office Buildings | Oct 26, 2021
A massive office reno project in Detroit sought to create destination spaces for returning workers
The interior design firm Pophouse relied heavily on employee input for a pilot remodel.