Elevating a building off the ground using pilotis frees up the ground floor for pedestrian circulation. This solution, identified by Le Corbusier as one of the five points of modern architecture, creates an open area that fosters a stronger connection between the public space of the street and the private space of the building. Today, contemporary projects adopt various strategies to design active ground floors that engage with the city and generously share their plots with the public.
Integrating residual or degraded spaces, creating new plazas, or allowing public thoroughfares are just a few strategies used to stitch a building into its urban fabric and integrate it more effectively into its context. Below, we have selected fifteen projects that incorporate these features to enhance the public value of their surroundings and contribute to better cities.
The Soto Office Building / Lake|Flato Architects + BOKA Powell
Le Monde Group Headquarters / Snøhetta
Krushi Bhawan Building / Studio Lotus
COPA Building / Ça Arquitectura
Henderson Cifi Tiandi / Ateliers Jean Nouvel
Carlsberg Group Headquarters / C.F. Møller Architects
L’Orée des Sens Apartments / Yves Ballot et Nathalie Franck
Aoti Vanke Centre / LWK + PARTNERS
Haina Baichuan Headquarters / Dongxiying Studio CCDI
Cubic Houses / ADEPT
Mundo-a Commercial Building / B-architecten
Niigata III Residential Complex / Studio Takuya Hosokai
LimmatSpot Apartments / Holzer Kobler Architekturen
Kaarlo Sarkian Katu Apartments / Playa Architects
Île-de-France Headquarters / Ferrier Marchetti Studio
This article was written by Victor Delaqua. The translation is powered by AI.
