Soft Serve Cone Or Christmas Tree? Amazon HQ2 Helix Sparks Debate

ARLINGTON, VA — People interact with architecture every day, but they aren't always thinking about how a building looks and functions. When Amazon rolled out the designs Tuesday for its $2.5 billion headquarters project, which featured a 350-foot helix-shaped office tower that can be climbed from the outside like a mountain hike, people reacted.

"I love it!" Michele Maisano of Arlington said. "It's fun to look at and suits the forward thinking Amazon. In general, National Landing will be a huge benefit to the neighborhood and the region. I'm looking forward to all the changes coming our way."

"When I worked there, Crystal City was full of drab office towers," said Jeffrey Order of Arlington. "I like Amazon’s creative plans. It’ll make the neighborhood more interesting."

Amazon's proposal also features 2.8 million square feet of office space in three 22-story office buildings in addition to those already under construction as the company looks to accommodate 25,000 new workers over the coming years in Arlington.

"This will absolutely go by it's nickname and forever be known as 'The Christmas Tree Building' — similar to the 'Toilet Bowl Building' in Tysons,'" Melissa Bianco of Reston said, of the Helix. "At least Christmas trees are pretty."

Jim Lee of Arlington agreed with Bianco's comparison to a Christmas tree, but he preferred calling it the "Soft Serve Cone." He also encouraged people to check out London's "Egg" building for comparison.

"To the detractors, technology and change is always a double edge sword, but Amazon has pledged $2 billion for affordable housing around its various operations including Arlington," he said.

Jolie Bain Pillsbury and Ana B Borray both loved the design, but another Arlingtonian was less than impressed.

"This looks like the poop emoji reimagined in metal and glass," said Mary Czach.

Arlington's Elta Wilson was more diplomatic: "It's their building and while not my personal taste, I find it reasonable."

The design of Amazon's Helix structure not only prompted debate among the public, it drew comment from members of the architectural community.

Mike Patton, managing director of architecture at DBI Architects, an architectural and interior design firm with offices in D.C. and Reston, admitted to being a little shocked by the size and scale of the Helix when he first saw the designs.

"Knowing that Amazon has done The Spheres building at their Seattle headquarters, which is a much smaller structure, it kind of makes sense that they would have a similar feature at the HQ2 project," he said. "It's nice to have something like that to contrast the banality of the Crystal City architecture. But for me, the jury's still out on what I'm looking at. I'd like to know a lot more about what's there."

Michael Hartman, a principal at DBI, was also initially surprised by the large size of the Helix.

"It is monumental," he said. "I think overall the efforts of the architects and planners to connect to nature and allow public access to the spaces that are there, really turning against the complex as just 'Amazon Headquarters,' they're looking to make sure that it is a public space and it connects to nature."

Hartman's first impression of the building, like others, was that it resembled a Christmas Tree, but added that it was reflective of Amazon's intent to link nature with the public spaces.

"To me, it's obvious that they're mirroring the success of The Vessel at Hudson Yards in New York," he said. "That's a very sculptural form that is large and does allow people to engage with it, literally, by walking up and around it. From a concept of what they're doing, I think it's great. It's a place for people to have a connection to nature, not only literally because it's treelined, but the views to the river and to D.C."

As to how Amazon's Helix fits into the current thinking about the design of office buildings, Hartman pointed again to The Vessel and similar structures that succeed at drawing people in with their design.

"Chicago, their waterfront, has these very bold structures and they're very popular," he said. "They do enhance a public space to draw people to that space. No opinion on the design of this Helix specifically, but there are precedents that have proven quite successful for public space within an office complex."

In DBI's own development projects, Hartman and Patton have seen a shift over the last 10 years to a more comprehensive approach to commercial design.

"The workday is not eight hours anymore, so people in architecture are trying to provide these types of spaces that accommodate this different work style," Patton said. "This whole area of Crystal City is trying not to be a 9-to-5 area. There's residential mixed in there. It's trying to be a useful space that's the community is using as much as they can 24/7."

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