5 Minutes With the 22 Vanderbilt Team

I’m so proud to have been part of the incredible team that radically transformed this building. To see it become a place where people genuinely want to be—to come to work, or to meet, grab a coffee or a drink—is unbelievably rewarding. And the environmental impact and benefit to the community that was realized by repurposing the existing structure makes it even more meaningful.

Ready for Launch

The use of terra cotta, which is a common material found along Woodward, was adopted for the tower. It wasn’t so much about designing any particular style; it was more about referencing elements that are uniquely Detroit and bringing (them) into the 21st century.

SHoP Expands to 56K SF at Woolworth Building

“There are no other buildings in Lower Manhattan with the cache and history of the iconic Woolworth building,” [Brian] Siegel said in a statement. “Having been SHoP’s NYC headquarters for well over a decade, the building’s prime location and creative energy continues to suit the growing firm as it now expands further into the space.”

New world’s tallest timber skyscraper smashes height records

Atlassian Central is designed by SHoP Architects and BVN, and is part of a larger development in Sydney, Australia. To put its scale into perspective, Milwaukee’s Ascent has until now been considered the world’s tallest hybrid timber skyscraper and reaches a height of 86.6 m (284 ft). Atlassian Central will top out at 183 m (600 ft), making it over twice as tall and – according to the CTBUH, the premier authority on building heights – the world’s tallest, excepting proposals that haven’t yet been approved.

Its hybrid structure means that, unlike Norway’s Mjøstårnet, for example, it makes use of significant concrete and steel, allowing it to rise much higher and still maintain its stability.

How models make architects’ ideas real

SHoP founding principals Bill and Chris Sharples love models of both their buildings and planes, which grace the firm’s Manhattan headquarters. But models are not just a means of decorating an office or displaying history: Their use can set a firm apart.

ASU’s under-construction McCain library aims to be civic commons rather than quiet archive

The Jan. 29 event marked the groundbreaking for the John S. McCain III Library and Museum, a project years in the making and one rooted as much in purpose as in memory.

The Best of the New New York Architecture

Two other supertalls, both by SHoP, puncture the atmosphere without disdaining the block. Both 111 West 57th Street, the world’s skinniest skyscraper, and 9 DeKalb Avenue, a.k.a. Brooklyn Tower, grow out of the early-20th-century landmarks at their feet, projecting their deluxe graciousness into the sky.

Warren & Wetmore’s 1925 Steinway Hall presides over 57th Street, a limestone memory of classical music’s glory days, and SHoP’s vertical addition draws out its poise, its rhythm, and its showy ease. Up at the top, the crown falls away, feathering to nothing, like a long pianissimo trill, a feat of attention-getting lightness. This is a huge accomplishment, offering a way out of the battle between contextualism and contrast.

Rhijnhaven Rotterdam: How Urban Development Can Succeed

The 220-meter-high Codrico Tower, designed by SHoP Architects, with its striking projections and recesses, also adheres to an appearance reminiscent of the Rotterdam port expansion era.

Atlassian Central Set to Complete in 2026

In Australia, SHoP Architects and BVN will complete Atlassian’s headquarters—the world’s tallest hybrid timber building. At a height of 180 meters, the office building will have an internal timber structure surrounded by an envelope of steel and glass.

Stunning $1.5B Hudson’s Project Fills Major Gap

There was a conspicuous gap in the center of downtown Detroit for a quarter century. That long, empty block along Woodward was where the massive J.L. Hudson department store building once stood, before its 1998 demolition by implosion. The gap its implosion left behind was also a psychological one for some Detroiters who were old enough to remember shopping at the old Hudson’s before it closed in 1983 after more than 90 years of business.