THE VISION ON FIFTEENTH
Pittsburgh, PA
Architecture & Pre-Development | Mixed-Use Development
2019 - 2022 | Built
Conceived with RDC and executed by Burns Scalo, at 15th and Smallman Street in Pittsburgh’s rapidly growing Strip District, The Vision on Fifteenth is an 8-story mixed-used development with 233,000 sf of flexible commercial office space and 32,000 sf of restaurant and retail. Additionally, the project 374 parking spaces, 68 bike storage spaces, electric vehicle charging, on-site bike sharing, public and private outdoor space, along with abundant tenant amenities.
After considerable exploration, an appropriate site massing and programmatic distribution was developed to achieve the developer’s goals. The bulk of the tower was strategically positioned on the north corner of the site furthest away from the elevated highway to maximize downtown sightlines and highlight the main entry at 15th and Waterfront Place. The tower massing tiers back along Waterfront place to create distinct material planes that reduce the broad scale of the facade. Similarly, the massing was kept at two stories along Smallman Street and broken by an outdoor plaza to promote a pedestrian scale that complements the active, commercial corridor being developed up and down the street. Tucking the parking garage into and under the massing conceals the bulk of the garage on the activated facades, while exposing it on the accessible sides.
The major massing moves and changes in plane helped inform the strategic distribution of materials and color tones across the project. The net effect being a building that has distinct parts that work in-the-round to create a cohesive design, but still promote visual and physical breaks to the scale and mass in effort to avoid complete monotony. The lower levels of the development are rooted in contextural masonry typical of the Strip District with the main office mass, clad in a more contemporary glass and metal panel, ceremoniously rising out of the masonry tradition. The Vision on Fifteenth is another beacon in this rapidly developing neighborhood where both the past is honored and a new vision for Pittsburgh is taking root.
[ Images Courtesy of AE7 ]