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
Office Buildings | Jan 18, 2018
*UPDATED* Amazon narrows list of possible HQ2 locations down to 20 cities
The company expects to invest over $5 billion in construction and grow HQ2 to include as many as 50,000 jobs.
Office Buildings | Jan 3, 2018
Activating the workplace
Here's how active work stations impact how you think, perform, and feel.
Office Buildings | Dec 19, 2017
How do we measure human performance, and what does it mean for the workplace?
There are many new tools and methods that are beginning to look more comprehensively to evaluate organizational well-being.
Office Buildings | Dec 15, 2017
How environmental graphics can inspire culture and creativity in the workplace
Once you secure outstanding talent, how do you keep the creative juices flowing and help employees feel more connected to their company’s culture?
Office Buildings | Dec 14, 2017
San Francisco’s first WELL v1 Certified project has been completed
The space emphasizes WELL’s vital concepts of air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind within the workplace.
Mixed-Use | Dec 12, 2017
A new live/work neighborhood is about to get under way in Omaha, Neb.
Walkability and recreation will be key features of West Farm.
Office Buildings | Dec 1, 2017
Telecommunications company’s remodeled headquarters makes use of its unique H shape
lauckgroup designed the new headquarters space.
Office Buildings | Nov 6, 2017
Battle for 50K: Amazon HQ2 pushes cities to rethink urban development
In using an open RFP process with a tight timeline, Amazon created a frenzied, almost hackathon-like atmosphere that it hoped would spark next-level creativity when it comes to urban redevelopment.
Adaptive Reuse | Oct 23, 2017
A tableware storage space is reset to accommodate an investment firm’s headquarters in Raleigh, N.C.
This adaptive reuse establishes more direct visual and physical connections to a growing city.
Office Buildings | Oct 20, 2017
Hybridization of the co-working experience
Exploring potential innovations for the co-working industry.
