Knights of Columbus Headquarters
New Haven, Connecticut · 1970
A key precedent for structural expressionism and monumental high-rise design, featuring massive cylindrical brick corner shafts that support suspended steel-and-glass floor plates.
- What we like about this project
- The corner shafts are completely void of windows, emphasizing their role as pure structural and service cores.
Materials
- dark-brick
- corten-steel
- glass
- concrete
Visual identifiers
- cylindrical-towers
- corner-shafts
- corten-steel-beams
- dark-brick-cladding
- monumental-verticality
Style tags
- late-modernist
- structural-expressionism
- monumental
Visual tags
- high-rise
- structural-expressionism
- monolithic
- corporate-headquarters
- mid-century-modernism
- Geometry
- Four massive cylindrical brick towers anchor the corners of a rectangular tower, with horizontal steel-and-glass floor plates suspended between them.
- Facade system
- Suspended steel-framed curtain wall spanning between structural masonry shafts.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete core and corner shafts supporting structural steel floor framing.
- Spatial scale
- A high-rise office tower of approximately 23 stories, dominating the immediate streetscape.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft shadows on the curved brick surfaces and highlighting the horizontal steel beams.
- Atmosphere
- Imposing and solid, balancing the heavy mass of masonry cylinders with the dark, industrial rhythm of steel spans.
- Environmental context
- Set back from the street with a landscaped green buffer, situated in an urban context with mid-rise buildings nearby.
- Spatial experience
- The building reads as a monumental, sculptural landmark from a distance, with the massive corner shafts emphasizing verticality and structural strength.
- Composition rhythm
- A strong vertical rhythm established by the twin cylindrical towers framing a dense, horizontal stack of steel-framed window bands.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist Structural Expressionism
- Program
- Commercial office headquarters
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- dark-brick, corten-steel, glass, concrete
- Visual identifiers
- cylindrical-towers, corner-shafts, corten-steel-beams, dark-brick-cladding, monumental-verticality
- Style tags
- late-modernist, structural-expressionism, monumental
- Visual tags
- high-rise, structural-expressionism, monolithic, corporate-headquarters, mid-century-modernism
- Geometry
- Four massive cylindrical brick towers anchor the corners of a rectangular tower, with horizontal steel-and-glass floor plates suspended between them.
- Facade system
- Suspended steel-framed curtain wall spanning between structural masonry shafts.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete core and corner shafts supporting structural steel floor framing.
- Spatial scale
- A high-rise office tower of approximately 23 stories, dominating the immediate streetscape.
- Lighting
- Bright, direct daylight casting soft shadows on the curved brick surfaces and highlighting the horizontal steel beams.
- Atmosphere
- Imposing and solid, balancing the heavy mass of masonry cylinders with the dark, industrial rhythm of steel spans.
- Environmental context
- Set back from the street with a landscaped green buffer, situated in an urban context with mid-rise buildings nearby.
- Spatial experience
- The building reads as a monumental, sculptural landmark from a distance, with the massive corner shafts emphasizing verticality and structural strength.
- Composition rhythm
- A strong vertical rhythm established by the twin cylindrical towers framing a dense, horizontal stack of steel-framed window bands.
- Style reading
- Late Modernist Structural Expressionism
- Program
- Commercial office headquarters
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture