High-Rise




Year: 2015
Studio: 3rd Year Fall Undergraduate Studio (SCI-Arc)
Instructor: David Freeland
Team: Sara Segura, Melissa Lee


Per the conventional layering of identical floor plans, architect Louis Sullivan’s methodology reduced the tall tower typology into a monotonous, potentially-infinite form. His vision for high-rise buildings limits vertical circulation to an enclosed elevator core for structural support and perpetuates “pancaked” spatial experiences—particularly in office buildings.

The tall tower is reinvestigated as a series of composite of smaller, syncopated shapes with irregular rhythm. Through the articulation of a cavernous core and a louvered envelope, its verticality is interrupted, creating a series of smaller multiple-story interactive spaces. As such, this high-rise office tower in New York City brings back the horizontality of the open office plan in a paradoxical morphological container.