84.51° Centre, a 300,000 square foot building in Cincinnati’s Central Business District, is an iconic addition to the city’s downtown landscape and an example of its continued urban redevelopment. A partnership between 84.51°, the City of Cincinnati, and 3CDC, the headquarters serves to create real connections to the surrounding community and to be a catalyst for civic improvement.
Designed from the inside out, the design team studied the company to determine how 84.51°’s associates work from day to day. From this, it was determined that employees are at their desks less than one-third of the average workday, and they tend to work greater amounts of time either offsite or in other areas of the office.
With productivity and engagement at the center of the design, the team collaborated with the client to ideate and realize three distinguishable work settings—Neighborhoods, Localities and Piazzas. These areas provide the critical balance between focus and collaboration that 84.51°’s employees need to be successful. Neighborhoods, represent individual office areas, where Localities are shared, collaboration spaces.
The public-facing, centralized Piazzas meet the client’s desire to have their expansive, stacked workspace feel like one floor. The design team opened five floors of workspace by slicing through the building with a “light canyon” that creates connectivity, flexibility and visibility between each floor. These Piazzas, or open areas, act as a wayfinding device for the space, revealing each of 84.51°’s floors.
As the headquarters of a data-driven company, data points were consciously incorporated into the design of the building’s façade. The team developed a multi-tier approach to the exterior design through a comprehensive analysis of Cincinnati’s urban context, building views, city climate, and internal workplace programming. These bits of data connect the core of this global company with its local environment – a true window into 84.51°.
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