The Forum - Piazza at Paces

The Forum - Piazza at Paces, Atlanta, is a work of art in its own right. Europe inspired the Italian Renaissance-style office project, a 12-story, Class A office building and five-story parking deck. Architectural precast panels, ornamental domes, terraces, half-round balconies, two-story columns, decorative handrails, and barrel-vaulted ceilings frame the backdrop of an Italian garden.

Primarily privately funded, construction of the $27 million project was completed in November 2000. The office building and parking garage total 544,223 gross square feet: a 307,793-square-foot office building and 236,430-square-foot parking garage on a 70,000-square-foot building footprint.

Conceptually, the Forum grew out of a series of visions, themes, and ideas. Project highlights include:

• Coffered barrel-vaulted ceilings accent the precast arch and columns. This exterior theme is carried inside the 27,000-square-foot lobby, where visitors are greeted with imported Spanish and Italian stone floors, rich cherry-stained wood accents on the etched bronze elevator doors, and molded stone and Venetian plaster walls. Italian artist, Valentino Vago, painted murals for the elevator ceilings and two lobby niches.
• Porthole windows, located just below the second-floor terrace level, mask two integrated deck levels. A cast stone balustrade and handrail enclose the paver terrace on three sides of the building. Decorative handrails accentuate the operable arched windows at each level. Ornamental domes anchor the penthouse.
• To avoid material delivery setbacks for this unparalleled design, the precast erection sequence drove production. Compounded with integral brick bands, precast forms were set up to follow the north to south, east to west erection. All similar shaped pieces were formed together, tagged, and shipped to the site. Daily construction progress directly influenced the precast shop ticket fabrication.

- Linda K. Monroe, Editorial Director