Prolific British practice Foster + Partners has revealed design for a new tower for JPMorgan Chase, an American multinational investment banking company headquartered in New York City. 

The 60-story skyscraper designed by Foster + Partners will be "New York City’s largest all-electric tower" promising net zero operational emissions and succeeding the highest standards in sustainability, health and wellness.

Designed as the new global headquarters building, the design will be a new state-of-the-art global headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, United States. 

The tower, reaching at 423 meter, will offer 2.5 times more ground-level outdoor space, featuring an expansive public plaza with street-level green spaces. 

Image © dbox / Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners-designed tower will be based on healthy building principles to set new standards for employee wellness and hospitality. According to the firm, the design will help define the modern workplace with 21st century infrastructure and smart technology. 

The skyscraper will offer 2.5 million square feet of flexible and collaborative space that can easily adapt to the future of work.

"The project is the first under New York City’s innovative Midtown East Rezoning plan, which encourages modern office construction and improvements to the business district’s public realm and transportation," said Foster + Partners.

Image © dbox / Foster + Partners

"270 Park Avenue is set to be a new landmark"

"270 Park Avenue is set to be a new landmark that responds to its historic location as well as the legacy of JPMorgan Chase in New York," said Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman of Foster + Partners.

"The unique design rises to the challenge of respecting the rhythm and distinctive streetscape of Park Avenue, while accommodating the vital transport infrastructure of the city below." 

"The result is an elegant solution where the architecture is the structure, and the structure is the architecture, embracing a new vision that will serve JPMorgan Chase now and well into the future," Foster added.

Image © dbox / Foster + Partners

The new tower will house up to 14,000 employees of the company - replacing an outdated facility designed in the late 1950s for about 3,500 employees. 

On the ground level of Park and Madison Avenues, it will offer 2.5 times more outdoor space, featuring wider sidewalks and a large public plaza on Madison Avenue. These walkways will incorporate natural green space and other amenities geared toward the residents, workers and visitors who frequent the neighborhood on a daily basis.

For the concept for the new design, Foster + Partners' aim was to create a timeless addition to Park Avenue to celebrate the city’s iconic architectural history and serve as a powerful new symbol for the next generation of office towers in New York.

The lobby at 270 Park Avenue. Image © Foster + Partners

The tower, which consists of decreasing and increasing blocks, is designed with a special structure system. Featuring a state-of-the-art structural system, this system is implemented to negotiate the site constraints below and at ground level.

It will feature an innovative fan-column structure with triangular bracing that will allow the building to touch the ground lightly across the entire block. 

By lifting the building about 80 feet (24 meters) from the ground, it will extend the viewpoint from the Park Avenue entrance through to Madison Avenue.

Night view towards client center. JPMorgan Chase New Global Headquarters Building New York City. Image © Foster + Partners

"Sustainability is at the heart of the project"

Nigel Dancey, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners, emphasized the sustainability principles of the tower to provide flexible workspaces with abundant daylight, fresh air and biophilic elements.

"The designs for 270 Park Avenue emerged from an intense process, where architects, designers and specialist teams – in London and New York – worked in close collaboration with JP Morgan to understand the way they work, ensuring the designs embodied the true spirit of innovation that is at the heart of everything they do," said Nigel Dancey, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners.

"Sustainability is at the heart of the project, with workspaces flooded with daylight and fresh air, incorporating biophilic elements and materials to improve wellbeing." 

"As a team, we sought to question and re-evaluate every aspect of the design to create an ambitious future vision of the workplace for JP Morgan," Dancey added.

Located above the trading floors, the three story “Exchange” is the social heart of the tower. JPMorgan Chase New Global Headquarters Building New York City. Image © LightField London

97% of the building materials of the tower are reused from the demolition

270 Park is set to be built as "New York City’s largest all-electric skyscraper" promising net zero operational emissions. The tower will be 100 per cent powered by renewable energy sourced from a New York State hydroelectric plant.

Adopting the circular economy principles, Foster + Partners recycled, reused or upcycled 97 per cent of the building materials from the demolition for the project - "it is far exceeding the 75 per cent requirement of the leading green building standard," as the studio noted. 

The materials will be used from the existing building designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 1960s, which was demolished between 2019 and 2021.

Located above the trading floors, the three story “Exchange” is the social heart of the tower. JPMorgan Chase New Global Headquarters Building New York City. Image © LightField London

Besides sustainable elements, the building will implement state-of-the-art building technology and systems to ensure it operates as efficiently as possible.

For example, it will use an intelligent building technology that uses sensors, AI and machine learning systems to predict, respond and adapt to energy needs. It will feature an advanced water storage and reuse systems to reduce water usage by more than 40 per cent.

Another element is a triple pane glazing that will be used on the façade and incorporate automatic solar shades connected to HVAC systems for greater energy efficiency. Moreover, outdoor terraces will feature natural green space and plantings.

Foster + partners also noted that the tower will offer 50 per cent more communal spaces and 25 per cent more volume of space per person – giving more choices in where and how to work. 

Using flexible column-free floor plates will allow space to easily change layout and floor design, including inter-floor connections, according to the studio.

Image © dbox / Foster + Partners

The skyscraper will offer a state-of-the-art health and wellness center, featuring fitness areas, yoga/cycling rooms, physical therapy, medical services, modern mother’s rooms and prayer and meditation spaces.

The studio aims to create "a touchless journey for employees and visitors" by implementing more than 50,000 connected devices that "will make it the most connected, data-driven high-rise building in New York City."

270 Park Avenue set against the Manhattan skyline. Image © dbox / Foster + Partners

The design promises to "bring in 30 per cent more daylight than a typical developer-led, speculative office building and use circadian lighting to minimize the effects of electric light and support a healthier indoor environment."

Project facts

Project name: 270 Park Avenue

Architect: Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners Design Team: Norman Foster, Nigel Dancey, David Summerfield, Kirsten Scott, Mike Jelliffe, Jeremy Dworken, Justin Boyer, William Gordon, Nicola Scaranaro, Annamaria Anderloni, Maro Riga, Mayoor Javeri Jagjiwan, Daniel Martinez, Patrick Delahoy, Esma Karkukli, Sergio Gomez, Javier Gonzalez Adalid, Kris Gratze, Pepe Pozo, Christopher Ireland, Wenwen Wang, Jorge Periera, David Rodrigues, Carolina Romero, Byungkyun Kim, Elena Petrova, Troy Zezula, Ashwin Lakhani, Daniel van der Poll, Thomas Tumelty, Alejandro Guerrero Neira.

Location: New York, USA

Architect of Record: Adamson Associates Architects

Development Advisers: Tishman Speyer

Design Collaborator: Vishaan Chakrabarti

Structural Engineer: Foster + Partners Engineering Team (Competition Concept) Severud (Design and Engineer of Record)

MEP Engineers: JBB

Sustainability: Foster + Partners (Competition Concept) Socotec

Cost Consultant: Linesight

Main Contractor: AECOM Tishman

Vertical Transportation: EWCG

Façade Consultant: Heintges

Façade Maintenance: Entek

Civil: Philip Habib + Associates

Wind and Ice: RWDI

Landscape Consultant: Ken Smith Workshop

Lighting Designer: Tillotson Design Associates

Code Consultant: CCI

Geotechnical Engineer: Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers

Top image © dbox / Foster + Partners

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