Why does the FMC Tower have its form?
Pelli Clarke Pelli designed FMC Tower at Cira Center South to be a grand, powerful building that stays true to Brandywine Realty Trust’s initial vision. The principle southern view of the tower has a sleek, unbroken facade that will make a statement to all the drivers coming into Philadelphia along I-76 and advertises itself as choice office and luxury apartment building. The designed crystalline shape comprised of a chamfered and rounded facade made of light blue reflective curtain wall. This design matches other buildings of the combined Brandywine development project, including the original Cira Center to the north of 30th Street Station and the future, final skyscraper present in Brandywine’s master plan for the combined development.
The interior and surrounding exterior environment was articulated to express the motto of Pelli Clarke Pelli, “live-work-play.” The three parts were balanced and epitomized in the design of FMC Tower. The building contains office, residential, retail, and recreational spaces which represent all three parts. But additionally the building is well connected to parks, Cira Green, Philadelphia International Airport, and nearby cities by public transit. The ground floor has an inviting clear glass facade setback under an overhang and the interior will be finished with Italian marble and include an upscale restaurant and bar.
The FMC Tower will be the 6th tallest building in Philadelphia at 735.6 FT when it is finished and a facade will have a facade animated with lights similar to what is installed in the original Cira Center. with this design the architect successfully makes an impression by adding the first vertical neighborhood and growing the Philadelphia skyline.
About the Building Circulation & Space Allocation
The circulation inside the spaces is dependent upon the space type and the expected traffic volume. This is most evident in the design of the elevator core. There are fewer dedicated elevators to the residential floors and more to the office floors. Also the office floors are divided into two different rises. The low rise section, floors 1 through 16, is served by the eastmost elevator hoistway of elevators and the high rise section, floors 15 through 26, is served by the central elevator hoistway.
The entrance of the different occupants is separated on the ground floor. The residential rise and office rises have separate lobbies and the restaurant customers and employees that do not live and work in the building have their own entrance on the ground floor. The separation at the base organizes who has access to what areas and facilitates their movement to and from their destination within the building.
The restaurant employees are given private access to an elevator in the residential hoistway that allows them to provide room service to the residents. The entrance of mechanical or service occupants is less confined. There is access for the building support occupants on the ground floor and the 2nd below ground floor. There are two freight elevators that travel to almost every floor of the building except for the upper two mechanical floors. They are able to travel through the building most freely on the mechanical floors and given less access on the amenity, residential and office floors. The separation of elevator access and the private access given to the room service staff reduces interruption made by these occupants.
The largest space users in the building are organized with residential space on top and office space below. The reasoning for this arrangement is due to there being more occupants in the office area than the residential area, that the office occupants are expected to be more active than residential occupants. Because of these characteristics, the offices require more elevators which take up a lot of space and require a rigid structure to operate in. If the office space was located on the top of the residential space, then significantly more space would be used for elevator shafts at the base of the building and would be wasted space when moving through the residential rise of the building.
The mechanical spaces were located in the top, middle and bottom of the building. This arrangement is effective in distributing HVAC, electrical, waste removal, and large delivery infrastructure to the different spaces. The office and residential areas have different HVAC systems and separated electrical distribution networks. The mechanical space in the middle provides a mechanical space that supports the requirements of the office space and amenity floor and the mechanical spaces that are on the roof do the same for the residential spaces. The Mechanical spaces in the below ground levels and ground floor contain all the office space for service employees and handles the waste removal and large deliveries. The 2nd below ground floor has 4 loading docks in which the waste is collected and stored and large deliveries are received. The freight elevators are located close to the loading dock so that technicians and service crews would have an easier time transporting equipment and navigating through the building. Smaller deliveries and drop offs of office employees and residents can be done via the access loop that is located on the above ground site, north of the two lobbies and in between the tower and the parking garage.
The building was designed as a mixed use structure that meets the vision of a vertical neighborhood, but because of economics. The building has two major occupants, residents and office tenants. By net rental area, the building is composed of 60% office, 24% residential and 12% mechanical space. Please reference the Architectural System Table 1 at the bottom of this page which presents additional area information and supporting calculations and volume estimations. This design likely came to be because the office space market in Philadelphia is not enough to fill the entire tower. Similarly, the residential tower apartment market goes against the initial concept of a corporate office building and has lower rental rates than office space. Under these conditions, if the building were built it would be largely vacant and the returns on the investment to to construct the building would come back slowly. The mixed use design also better appeals to potential tenants because of the amenities and the capabilities of the building to act as a vertical neighborhood.
The residential floors are designed with a two sided common corridor to maximize the rentable space per floor. each floor has a variety of different room types with studios, 1 bedroom, 1 bedroom and den, and 2 bedroom apartments. The availability of a variety of apartments will appeal to a larger number of possible residents and help fill the building.
The office floors are designed with wide open spaces around the core. This design required the use of structural steel to economically and efficiently make the floor spans from the core to the exterior curtain wall. As the floors climb within the two office rises, the core arrangement changes. The number of elevator shafts drop off and the bathrooms and mechanical spaces are migrate from outside the core to inside the core. On each side of the core there is a fire stair provided for emergency egress.
The total occupancy of the tower was determined to be around 6900 people with the majority being office occupants at roughly 6000 people and followed by residential occupant whom are about 700 persons. The last 200 occupants are the restaurant guests and the service staff. The office and restaurant occupancies were predicted using person per square feet factor. The residential occupancy was determined by summing the products of the expected number of occupants per apartment type and number of apartments of each type in the building. The service staff was reasonably estimated at 1 person per level of the tower which is reasonable considering the office space dedicated to these occupants, the need for technicians on the amenity floor and the existence of a room service providing restaurant. This number turned out to be a ratio of 1 service occupant to every 130 other occupants. Additional supporting data on the occupancy of FMC tower is provided in Architectural System Table 2 at the bottom of this page.
The entrance of the different occupants is separated on the ground floor. The residential rise and office rises have separate lobbies and the restaurant customers and employees that do not live and work in the building have their own entrance on the ground floor. The separation at the base organizes who has access to what areas and facilitates their movement to and from their destination within the building.
The restaurant employees are given private access to an elevator in the residential hoistway that allows them to provide room service to the residents. The entrance of mechanical or service occupants is less confined. There is access for the building support occupants on the ground floor and the 2nd below ground floor. There are two freight elevators that travel to almost every floor of the building except for the upper two mechanical floors. They are able to travel through the building most freely on the mechanical floors and given less access on the amenity, residential and office floors. The separation of elevator access and the private access given to the room service staff reduces interruption made by these occupants.
The largest space users in the building are organized with residential space on top and office space below. The reasoning for this arrangement is due to there being more occupants in the office area than the residential area, that the office occupants are expected to be more active than residential occupants. Because of these characteristics, the offices require more elevators which take up a lot of space and require a rigid structure to operate in. If the office space was located on the top of the residential space, then significantly more space would be used for elevator shafts at the base of the building and would be wasted space when moving through the residential rise of the building.
The mechanical spaces were located in the top, middle and bottom of the building. This arrangement is effective in distributing HVAC, electrical, waste removal, and large delivery infrastructure to the different spaces. The office and residential areas have different HVAC systems and separated electrical distribution networks. The mechanical space in the middle provides a mechanical space that supports the requirements of the office space and amenity floor and the mechanical spaces that are on the roof do the same for the residential spaces. The Mechanical spaces in the below ground levels and ground floor contain all the office space for service employees and handles the waste removal and large deliveries. The 2nd below ground floor has 4 loading docks in which the waste is collected and stored and large deliveries are received. The freight elevators are located close to the loading dock so that technicians and service crews would have an easier time transporting equipment and navigating through the building. Smaller deliveries and drop offs of office employees and residents can be done via the access loop that is located on the above ground site, north of the two lobbies and in between the tower and the parking garage.
The building was designed as a mixed use structure that meets the vision of a vertical neighborhood, but because of economics. The building has two major occupants, residents and office tenants. By net rental area, the building is composed of 60% office, 24% residential and 12% mechanical space. Please reference the Architectural System Table 1 at the bottom of this page which presents additional area information and supporting calculations and volume estimations. This design likely came to be because the office space market in Philadelphia is not enough to fill the entire tower. Similarly, the residential tower apartment market goes against the initial concept of a corporate office building and has lower rental rates than office space. Under these conditions, if the building were built it would be largely vacant and the returns on the investment to to construct the building would come back slowly. The mixed use design also better appeals to potential tenants because of the amenities and the capabilities of the building to act as a vertical neighborhood.
The residential floors are designed with a two sided common corridor to maximize the rentable space per floor. each floor has a variety of different room types with studios, 1 bedroom, 1 bedroom and den, and 2 bedroom apartments. The availability of a variety of apartments will appeal to a larger number of possible residents and help fill the building.
The office floors are designed with wide open spaces around the core. This design required the use of structural steel to economically and efficiently make the floor spans from the core to the exterior curtain wall. As the floors climb within the two office rises, the core arrangement changes. The number of elevator shafts drop off and the bathrooms and mechanical spaces are migrate from outside the core to inside the core. On each side of the core there is a fire stair provided for emergency egress.
The total occupancy of the tower was determined to be around 6900 people with the majority being office occupants at roughly 6000 people and followed by residential occupant whom are about 700 persons. The last 200 occupants are the restaurant guests and the service staff. The office and restaurant occupancies were predicted using person per square feet factor. The residential occupancy was determined by summing the products of the expected number of occupants per apartment type and number of apartments of each type in the building. The service staff was reasonably estimated at 1 person per level of the tower which is reasonable considering the office space dedicated to these occupants, the need for technicians on the amenity floor and the existence of a room service providing restaurant. This number turned out to be a ratio of 1 service occupant to every 130 other occupants. Additional supporting data on the occupancy of FMC tower is provided in Architectural System Table 2 at the bottom of this page.
FMC Tower Circulation Diagrams
FMC Tower Emergency Egress Diagrams
FMC Tower Space Allocation Diagrams
As a tall building with an estimated occupancy of 6900 people the safe and orderly egress of the occupants during an emergency situation is very important. The building includes two fire staircases that pass from the 49th floor to the 2nd below ground floor. The staircases are located on opposite sides along the larger length dimension of the building. This arrangement provides quicker access for occupants throughout each floor of the tower. The egress pathways from the entrance of the fire staircases to the the outside of the building are designed to contain few to no flammable objects, be direct and are signed with exit signage. There are two levels of exits from the building. The first that is the ground floor which serves most occupants, all occupants that are in the above ground levels when the emergency begins. The exit pathways are routed through the residential and office lobbies and not through the restaurant because the occupancy density per unit area is greatest there, the pathway through that area would have additional obstacles, and the restaurant would have to be designed with little to no burnable materials. The other exit is on the 2nd below ground floor and serves those that are in the below ground levels.
FMC Tower Space Allocation Diagrams
FMC Tower Space Allocation Diagrams
Table 1: Building Space Calculations
Table 2: Building Occupancy Calculations