JPMorganChase hopened its new global headquarters at 270 Park Avenue in 2025. Designed by Foster + Partners, it is New York City’s largest all-electric, net zero operational emissions tower. Designed to achieve LEED Platinum v4 and WELL Health-Safety Rating, the skyscraper hopes to set new standards in sustainable workplace design. The building, which spans over 2.5 million square feet spread across 60 floors, will accommodate 10,000 employees and thousands of visitors daily.
Site constraints and solutions
Foster + Partners won the competition to design the new home of JPMorganChase in 2018. The design draws on New York’s enduring architectural heritage while proposing a new kind of corporate monumentality through its form. Foster + Partners’ Neo-Art Deco design uses the structural system as part of its visual identity. The building employs a fan-column structure with triangular bracing that allows the mass to “hover” 80 feet above the ground. The building’s inset base lightens the impression of the monumental building at street level.
Integration with existing urban fabric
This inset design enables the building to provide 2.5 times more outdoor space on the ground level than the previous building, which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the mid-1960s. Foster + Partners reimagining of the site has widened sidewalks and created a large and verdant public plaza on Madison Avenue designed for residents, workers and visitors to the neighbourhood.
“The unique design rises to the challenge of respecting the rhythm and distinctive streetscape of Park Avenue, whilst accommodating the vital transport infrastructure of the city below. The result is an elegant solution where the architecture is the structure, and the structure is the architecture, embracing a new vision that will serve JPMorgan Chase now and well into the future.” — Norman Foster, Founder of Foster + Partners
As the tower rises, the structure transitions into a continuous diagrid facade made from glass and steel. Setbacks at intervals help create a hierarchy of volumes that gently taper towards the top of the building, an aesthetic act that also reduces wind load. The facade has been completed with triple pane glazing and automatic solar shades connected to HVAC systems, which ensure greater energy efficiency for the building.
Floorplan and interior
The ground floor serves as the main entrance to the building and includes a monumental staircase and mezzanine level, with ramps and lifts that provide inclusive access for all. Directly above the ground floor are eight floors dedicated to trading operations. At the center of the tower, a triple height area called ‘Exchange’ acts as a central hub with 16 different venues and spaces for meetings and gatherings. The floors above house a range of spaces designed for flexible work alongisde a state-of-the-art health and wellness center and a curated art program—including works by Maya Lin, Leo Villareal, Gerhard Richter, Refik Anadol and Norman Foster.
Workplace design
The wellbeing-focused design responds to Harvard’s research into the effects of fresh air on cognitive function, providing an outdoor air ventilation rate of 40 cubic feet per minute per person. This is double the standard-specified minimum outdoor air ventilation rate. Terraces offer views across the city and provide outdoor spaces for employees and their guests. The building also features circadian lighting that aligns with natural human rhythms.
Structural systems
The building is supported by a reinforced concrete and steel frame, which provides the primary vertical support and lateral stiffness. A two-story “Tabletop” of steel transfer girders redistributes the loads to a system of sloping fan-shaped and V-shaped super-columns. These allow the tower to be elevated above ground and create column-free space at the lobby level.
Lateral loads are resisted by a multi-component system: the braced core, outrigger trusses, and exterior macro braces. A 280-tonne pendulum-type tuned mass damper on the 54th floor controls wind-induced sway. The design uses low-carbon materials, including concrete with ground glass pozzolans and nearly 100% recycled steel reinforcement, emphasising a bold approach to sustainable construction.
Sustainability and certifications
“Sustainability is at the heart of the project, with workspaces flooded with daylight and fresh air, incorporating biophilic elements and materials to improve wellbeing. As a team, we sought to question and re-evaluate every aspect of the design to create an ambitious future vision of the workplace for JP Morgan.” — Foster + Partners
Foster + Partners call 270 Park Avenue “New York City’s largest all-electric tower,” the buulding has net-zero operational emissions and is powered entirely by renewable energy sourced from a New York State hydroelectric plant. Though certification processes are not yet complete, the building is on track for LEED Version 4 Platinum, WELL Version 2 Pilot Platinum, Fitwel Version 2.1 2 Star, and a WELL Health Safety Certification.
These certifications are achieved through the design, which incorporates energy-efficient facades and HVAC systems to reduce the carbon footprint, alongside machine learning systems or optimised energy consumption. Advanced water storage and reuse systems are projected to reduce water consumption by over 40%. The skyscraper, which replaces the Union Carbide Building, reused or recycled approximately 97% of materials from the demolished structure.
