This LEED Platinum designed tower in downtown Philadelphia features flexible loft-like work spaces, state-of-the-art TV studios for NBC, a twelve-story hotel, and a series of thirteen, three-story sky gardens which filled the large open floor plates with daylight. The Wintergarden greets everyone with its timber-wrapped hull, highlighted by a grid of low-glare downlights and perimeter mono-point wallwashers. A custom slat incorporated into the wall panel systems conceals continuous linear LEDs with asymmetric throw to accentuate the rectilinear form of the structure without detracting from the custom central art pieces. Daylight sensors assist in modulating light levels to improve consistency between the front and rear of the space.

The lower half of the tower, primarily comprised of open office space, organizes fixtures along the main axis of the building. The linear pendants spaced between the chilled beams have optimized direct and indirect optics with carefully calibrated lumen packages that efficiently and evenly illuminate the office – an element of the lighting that helped the project achieve LEED Platinum certification. The Main Streets, or central corridors, have individual identities per three-story tier and connect occupants to meeting rooms and other public programs. Amenity floors break up the repetition of the office floors. The entrance to the Town Hall features a backlit wall that curves around the back side of the double-height amphitheater equipped with a lighting system capable of hosting anything from informal gatherings to professional forums.

From the exterior, the most distinguishing facade element is the Blade. To achieve the consistently luminous effect, a consistent lighting strategy is deployed in each elevator lobby. Linear grazers with narrow optics are embedded in the mullions and positioned to uplight the translucent dot fritted glass. An indirect cove at each floor softly uplights its respective soffit to give the appearance of a homogenous interior glow. Eventually the dot frit transitions to solid frit as it approaches the lantern in order to obscure structure and properly diffuse the continuous rows of vertically mounted LED strip lights, giving the tower its signature presence in the skyline.

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