Schedule: Schematic Design, 2005; Construction, 2007-09
Program: 11,000 sq. ft. canopy structure
Project Team: Preston Scott Cohen, Inc. with Pei Cobb Freed and Partners Architects LLP (design architects); Adamson Associates, Architects (production architects)
Consultants: Halcrow Yolles (Structural Engineer); Consentini Associates (MEP Engineer).

The Arcade Canopy project provides a covered connection between a corporate headquarters tower and a hotel. It's combination of geometric composition, incandescent and natural light, translucency and reflection create an impression of luminous enclosure in what would otherwise seem to be a ponderous urban canyon. The geometry of the canopy enriches the space of passage by offering an exceptional synthesis of surrounding site conditions. As if a tectonic surface, the whole canopy appears to be squeezed between the two buildings. Several schemes were developed for various types of curved surfaces to be partitioned into discrete, flat panels of glass and stainless steel. The final design, "Big Diagonal", is based on a single hyperbolic parabola panelized into three large triangular surfaces. The three surfaces as a whole tilt toward the corporate tower from which the canopy is cantilevered, resulting in a torqued effect. The entire structure is suspended from tension cables that cumulatively inscribe a hyperbolic parabola in the air above the actual surface of the triangulated canopy.