Amazon 300 Pine

Where a Historic Landmark Becomes a Modern Workplace

ADAPTIVE REUSE

A Historic Building, Reimagined for Work

The project transforms a landmark downtown retail building into a modern workplace while preserving and celebrating its historic character. The former department store offered expansive floor plates exceeding 80,000 square feet on each level, along with generous ceiling heights, large historic windows, and a rooftop deck with panoramic city views — assets that shaped the design from the outset. Rather than treating the building's existing fabric as a constraint, the design team drew on it as a foundation, letting the structure's bones guide a workplace experience that feels rooted in its context.

Delivering the project required careful coordination within an occupied building at a busy downtown site. The accelerated schedule placed demands on planning and sequencing throughout, and the team worked closely with the client to maintain building operations while construction progressed across multiple floors.

Open rooftop terrace with stone pavers and landscaped planters, overlooking a dense urban skyline on a clear day. — The rooftop deck offers panoramic views of the surrounding skyline, giving occupants a direct connection to the city and the building's prominent downtown address.

Connectivity

Five Floors, One Community

To counteract the isolating effect of deep, expansive floor plates, the design introduces a communicating stair that connects five floors through a series of saw-cut openings in the existing concrete slabs. The openings double as light wells, drawing natural light deep into the building's interior and creating visual connections between levels. What began as a concern about lost square footage became the project's defining gesture — once stakeholders explored the design in three dimensions, it was clear the intervention was essential to achieving the integrated, community-driven workplace the client envisioned.

Multi-story interior stair framed in orange steel with black metal railings, viewed from below through stacked floor openings in a converted historic building. — The communicating stair connects five floors through saw-cut slab openings, functioning as both a light well and the social spine of the workplace.

Workplace experience

Neighborhoods, Hubs, and Places to Gather

The expansive floors are organized into workplace neighborhoods anchored by shared coffee and copy hubs — informal gathering points positioned to draw teams away from their desks and into spontaneous interaction. Large wood architectural elements mark the intersections between zones, giving each neighborhood a distinct identity within the open plan. The result is a workplace that supports focused work and casual connection in equal measure, with variety embedded into the everyday flow of the day.

Open office lounge area with dark wood booth seating, pendant lighting, and views into adjacent work zones within a renovated industrial-style building. — Booth seating and lounge zones are distributed across the floor, giving teams a range of settings for informal collaboration and individual focus.

BIOPHILIA & ENVIRONMENT

Bringing the Outside In

The expansive floors are organized into workplace neighborhoods anchored by shared coffee and copy hubs — informal gathering points positioned to draw teams away from their desks and into spontaneous interaction. Large wood architectural elements mark the intersections between zones, giving each neighborhood a distinct identity within the open plan. The result is a workplace that supports focused work and casual connection in equal measure, with variety embedded into the everyday flow of the day.

Floor-to-ceiling living green wall densely planted with a variety of tropical foliage, with a person seated on a wood bench in front of it. — A full-height living green wall anchors a central circulation node, reinforcing the project's biophilic design concept with texture, color, and seasonal change.

HOSPITALITY & AMENITY

Grounded by Coffee, Topped by a Café

Hospitality and food service are woven throughout the project, giving each floor its own sense of arrival and amenity. The ground-level coffee shop anchors entry, offering generous seating, historic material details, and direct connection to the building's original fabric. At the top of the building, a café occupies the uppermost floor beneath the building's attic-like structure, where the compressed ceiling height and views down through the stair openings create an intimate, distinct experience unlike any other level in the project.