As one of the five most valuable companies in the world, consumer giant Amazon needs
a plush, statement headquarters to call its own... or rather, in this case, two.
Join us as we explore the development and construction of the company’s second American
hub.
When Amazon unveiled plans to build their new, second headquarters in 2017, the company
received no less than 230 proposals - requests, really - from cities and states across the
US to build on their land.
Each saw the benefits for their area, and was looking to become the new site of what
would inevitably be the tech firm’s latest crowning glory.
After the glut of proposals, Amazon had originally planned to jointly locate its newest headquarters
in New York, but after local protests including the storming of an Amazon store, ultimately
settled on only one perhaps less obvious location.
Arlington, Virginia, will be the host for the company’s plan to make a 100% renewable-energy
sourced hub called ‘HQ2’.
The site, which Amazon is at pains to paint as a public, community location, not a company
campus, will include an extraordinary ‘Helix’ building, and cost a total of around 5 billion
dollars.
With early construction already underway and the latest phase - including the Helix - scheduled
for completion in 2025, the new site will be a major boost for Arlington, which is expected
to benefit to the tune of 25,000 or so new employees, and a transformed city skyline
for the spot not too far from Washington D.C.
As well as ‘HQ2’, the location will be known as ‘PenPlace’, and will transform
a previously fairly drab neighbourhood.
The site will serve in addition to Amazon’s current main location in Seattle, with the
new site ultimately set to contain 2.8 million square feet of office space, with the latest
phase adding three new 22 storey buildings.
That Helix focal point, jokingly called a ‘glass poop emoji’ by some commenters,
is in fact a really quite beautiful looking 350ft tall swirling inverted cone, featuring
plenty of greenery and some spectacular looking outdoor walkways.
Physical exercise and mental well-being are both emphasized heavily in the intent of the
design, which uses the concept of ‘biophilia’ - a human desire to connect with nature - in
a similar way to the company’s series of biodomes at their original headquarters in
Seattle.
Lead architect Dale Alberda of the firm NBBJ, previous designers of corporate buildings
for the likes of Samsung, Google and Microsoft, says of the broader space “We're building
a series of indoor atriums and gardens that are not a conservatory or a place you just
visit, but a place you can actually go and work."
The project is so important to NBBJ they have opened a new office in Washington DC, just
to be nearby.
The greenery - which will be tended to by a team of horticulturalists - will be abundant
on the inside and outside of the Helix structure, where it will enclose a series of “alternative
work environments” for employees to engage in meetings and social calls.
The Helix, though, is not the site of offices themselves - these will be located in more
conventional nearby structures.
Instead, it’s a kind of escapist hub, where work will be combined with connection to nature
and, ideally, the company says in their press releases, a feeling of wellbeing.
Inside, there will be a meeting centre capacity of more than 1,500 people, and an artist in
residence scheme in place to assist with the creative side of the community.
It’s notable how little Amazon has revealed about the more day-to-day offices, perhaps
because they just aren’t all that exciting compared to the Helix and the surrounding
parklands.
Amazon already owns and rents a number of large office buildings in the area, and will
essentially expand in a similar way.
The new structures will form a kind of hub for the company’s presence in the area,
in the otherwise rather drab and conventional Crystal City part of Arlington.
The Helix itself is expected to be open to the public a couple of weekends a month.
The green ethos extends to the building’s carbon footprint, too.
The entire complex is expected to run on solar energy, but you won’t find the solar farm
enabling this nearby.
Instead, it’ll be constructed 200 miles away in Pittsylvania County, South Virginia,
with the power transported to Arlington.
Other green energy aspects of the project include a natural ventilation system, and
a system to recycle rainwater.
All of the new buildings are also designed to maximise the use of sunlight, and so reduce
the requirements for artificial lighting.
The complex as a whole will be LEED Platinum accredited, the highest certification for
sustainable development available from the US Green Building Council.
Many of the features of the complex, in fact, are future leaning, with Amazon making it
clear their new development is intended to be a long-term investment, and, after their
New York protest experience, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the support of the
community in Arlington as the project develops.
They’ll even be assisting in creating 1,300 affordable homes in the area through a further
$2 billion fund, something cynics might argue the rest of the project - likely to drive
up the cost of local housing - otherwise goes emphatically against.
Whatever the impact locally, naturally the new site will be a massive boom for Amazon,
and the site will come with plenty of benefits for locals who can afford to stay in the area,
too.
The campus is expected to be open to the public in its outdoor spaces, which will come to
2.5 acres of beautiful looking landscaped lawns and gardens.
On site, you’ll find biking trails, bike parking and charging points for electric cars,
as well as lots of non-Amazon businesses amongst the sculptured parkland.
Outside of the Amazon offices themselves, there will also be a 250-seat outdoor concert
venue also suitable for screening movies, dog-walking parks, day care facilities and
spaces designed to accommodate food trucks.
The ground will be sufficiently varied to even contain their own hiking trails, one
of which will circle around the outside of the Helix building.
Farmers markets will be part of the set up, as well as other retail spaces at ground level.
In fact, the ground level of the whole system is supposed to make PenPlace feel more like
an ultra-modern city block than the headquarters of a huge multinational, with the architects
hoping it might not even be clear you’re at HQ2 when you walk around.
The project essentially rejects the idea of corporate branding, at least externally, in
favour of positive community relations.
Designers hope the site could become a tourist attraction, too, with downtown Washington,
across the Pontiac River, just 15 minutes away by subway, making the site close to the
capital both appealing to would-be employees and easily accessible to visitors.
With its natural but also hi-tech looking swirling helix design very much at the heart
of Amazon’s plans and what will be the new Arlington skyline, it’s perhaps no surprise
to learn where the inspiration comes from.
Alberda describes the mix of native plants and manicured gardens that will make up the
helix’s swirling outdoor space as:
“drawing its formal inspiration directly from the natural world, where the double helix
geometry can be found in many forms, including plants, seashells, DNA strands, and even our
galaxy.”
In a world going increasingly for online working, this is also a statement of intent.
Unlike some of its rivals, Amazon has recently emphasized the importance of having its employees
in physically the same space, for the exchange of ideas and development work.
Pen Place is intended to be just that place.
Of course, there are other benefits, too, not least in the tax breaks and incentives
the city of Arlington has offered the corporate behemoth as part of fighting off those 200
plus other locations vying to host the multinational.
Tax breaks are thought to total around $573 million, or more than a tenth of the construction
outlay, but do depend on Amazon creating 25,000 jobs with an average salary of more than $150,000
in Arlington over the coming years.
The city, we suspect, won’t do too badly when it’s all added up.
New York’s planned tax breaks had been still higher, at over 1.5 billion dollars.
But what about the new site?
Will it help Amazon’s image?
Is it somewhere you’d like to work?
Or is it all just futuristic poop?
Tell us in the comments.