As Pittsburgh-based United States Steel ponders over its headquarters decision, the debate goes on. Is a horizontal, low-rise corporate business park ideal for a corporate headquarters, or is a single, 30 or 40-plus story building in a major central business district ideal? This blog post will examine the pros and cons of both setups, beginning with the suburban corporate business park or campus-type setting.
A horizontal corporate business park does have its advantages in terms of increased usable space per each floor; there is no need for a large elevator bank for a building shorter than, say 16 or 18 stories. From an emergency management perspective, I suppose it's safe to say that it is easier to evacuate a shorter building versus a taller one. Plus, fires in shorter buildings are likely to be easier to control and extinguish in a shorter building versus taller ones; top floors, depending on the height, could be reachable by a ladder or cherry picker truck. Drawbacks, however, are that the structures themselves are surrounded by a sea of parking. Depending on the setup of the building(s), they require a lot of walking, either in terms of going from your car to your office or between offices. As stated above, they are very auto-centric in design and are typically located in a suburban setting.
Vertical headquarters developments are an excellent way of taking a large corporate office and packing it into one small space in the urban fabric. Having 20, 30, or even 40-plus story buildings can enhance the dense, urban feel of a central business district or downtown. Taller buildings tend to represent economic or even financial fortitude of cities, especially considering the cost of construction and/or lease of space. If an employee needed to go to a different department for any given reason, it would be a matter of taking the stairs or elevator to another floor versus traveling a great horizontal distance. Typically, a single company's headquarters might not always be the sole occupant of any given high-rise. Given this, a single building can house numerous different offices in addition to a major company's headquarters.
Some drawbacks, however, besides the high cost to both construct and to lease the space, is they do not always enhance pedestrian activity. While some may have an outdoor plaza, they may or may not tie in well with the surrounding pedestrian fabric beyond the building itself. Depending on the immediate surroundings, they could be obstructive to other buildings.
Improving design of corporate space...
Could we design better high-rises or low-rise corporate parks? In spite of my overall favor of a high-rise, I think we could definitely construct a better office park. They could be designed around the bike or pedestrian rather than the automobile. They could be built into a street grid with the buildings fronting the sidewalks while the parking is located either in the rear or in an adjacent multilevel parking structure. They could incorporate state-of-the-art, eye-catching architecture typically found in some modern high-rises (i.e. Bank of America Tower in New York.). On improving high-rise developments, one could incorporate more of a pedestrian-friendly park or plaza that will be less prohibitive to the general public. In terms of improving the overall workspace and functionality of a high-rise, one should look no further than said-Bank of America Tower or the Tower at PNC Plaza in Pittsburgh.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
In an egg-shell...
My name is Jonathan David Egger, and I am an aspiring urban planning professional. This is my new blog which will include an opinionated discussion of urban planning and urban design topics. These topics vary from community development to transportation and will discuss points of view regarding proposed development, trends in neighborhoods, infrastructure developments, or transportation modes. I use the term "egg" shell as a play on my last name and in reference to the phrase, "in a nutshell..."
Who I am, in an eggshell...
I am originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I have always had an interest in buildings and construction since I was younger. Some of my earliest memories were watching the decaying steel mills giving way to clean slates of land ripe for redevelopment and reuse. As I got older, my interest expanded to include transportation. I became fascinated with our ribbons of highways and expansive air fields. Now, my main interest is in public transportation, intercity passenger rail, and complete street development.
Upon graduation from Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh, I attended Millersville University of PA where I completed a Bachelor of Art program in environmental geography. Six months later, I decided I wanted to pursue more courses in the field of planning and GIS. This eventually lead me to pursue a Masters degree from West Chester University, which I completed in 2010.
About a year later, having struggled to successfully find an organization to use my talents and passion to build a planning career with, I decided to work as a freelance consultant to gain experience. I began advertising myself as Jonathan Egger Design and Planning services. I provided land planning services to a Delaware-based propane distribution company as they pursue locations for a distribution facility. Other projects include providing insight to projects pertaining to corridor development and site development. Since March, 2012, I have been serving on the Downingtown Borough Planning Commission.
The Objective...
I regularly educate myself on issues that relate to urban planning and development through press releases, internet postings, and other media. I also regularly purchase publications from the American Planning Association, of which I have been a member since 2010. My overall objective is to inform other readers who themselves are established professionals in urban and regional planning or those who have an interest in community development or transportation. On top of that, I want to inform folks of current issues pertaining to these subjects. As someone who regularly educates himself in this field, I would especially like to engage in discussion about my opinions of the current issues. My posts will mainly focus on areas in and around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but my geographical area of interest could include anywhere in the Great Lakes to the Middle Atlantic area. My posts, for the most part, will be on a weekly basis, but I may occasionally post things on more of a daily basis depending on popularity of the posts and the frequency at which issues surface.
I do have an ultimate goal, however. While I have a masters degree in this field, I have yet to successfully seek employment as a city planner. I would like to get myself out there so that established professionals in need of urban planners will acknowledge my passion and drive for this field, see what I have to offer, and take a chance on me to facilitate growth and development for years to come.
Who I am, in an eggshell...
I am originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I have always had an interest in buildings and construction since I was younger. Some of my earliest memories were watching the decaying steel mills giving way to clean slates of land ripe for redevelopment and reuse. As I got older, my interest expanded to include transportation. I became fascinated with our ribbons of highways and expansive air fields. Now, my main interest is in public transportation, intercity passenger rail, and complete street development.
Upon graduation from Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh, I attended Millersville University of PA where I completed a Bachelor of Art program in environmental geography. Six months later, I decided I wanted to pursue more courses in the field of planning and GIS. This eventually lead me to pursue a Masters degree from West Chester University, which I completed in 2010.
About a year later, having struggled to successfully find an organization to use my talents and passion to build a planning career with, I decided to work as a freelance consultant to gain experience. I began advertising myself as Jonathan Egger Design and Planning services. I provided land planning services to a Delaware-based propane distribution company as they pursue locations for a distribution facility. Other projects include providing insight to projects pertaining to corridor development and site development. Since March, 2012, I have been serving on the Downingtown Borough Planning Commission.
The Objective...
I regularly educate myself on issues that relate to urban planning and development through press releases, internet postings, and other media. I also regularly purchase publications from the American Planning Association, of which I have been a member since 2010. My overall objective is to inform other readers who themselves are established professionals in urban and regional planning or those who have an interest in community development or transportation. On top of that, I want to inform folks of current issues pertaining to these subjects. As someone who regularly educates himself in this field, I would especially like to engage in discussion about my opinions of the current issues. My posts will mainly focus on areas in and around Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but my geographical area of interest could include anywhere in the Great Lakes to the Middle Atlantic area. My posts, for the most part, will be on a weekly basis, but I may occasionally post things on more of a daily basis depending on popularity of the posts and the frequency at which issues surface.
I do have an ultimate goal, however. While I have a masters degree in this field, I have yet to successfully seek employment as a city planner. I would like to get myself out there so that established professionals in need of urban planners will acknowledge my passion and drive for this field, see what I have to offer, and take a chance on me to facilitate growth and development for years to come.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)