The M Station office/retail redevelopment will be both functional and beautiful, project attorney Frank Vitolo told the Morristown planning board on Thursday.
For nearly three hours, architects pitched a people-centered design for a vibrant new destination in town.
They said elements will include a green wall and polyester scrim murals, possibly depicting local historical scenes, on the six-story parking deck.
Two terra-cotta sided office buildings, standing six- and seven stories, will be in slightly different shades of umber, to appear less monolithic.
A terraced plaza will be suitable for concerts and poetry readings, the board was told. Light-colored pavement, new trees near the deck, and plantings in the proposed traffic roundabout should prevent the four-acre site from becoming a heat island. Low-reflection windows should prevent birds from killing themselves.
The overall look is informed by George & Marthas American Grille, across Morris Street, and an apartment building under construction at 45 Market St., according to project architect Peter Wang of the Gensler firm.
Youre filling in a piece of land that has meaning and context to it it forces the architect to respect what is there, what Morristown looks and feels like. You cant just drop something in like its from outer space, Wang testified.
Slideshow screenshots by Kevin Coughlin. Click / hover on images for captions:
Scotto Properties and SJP Properties aim to replace Scottos Midtown Shopping Center strip mall at Morris and Spring streets with nearly 400,000 square feet of offices and retail, a parking deck, promenade, plaza and traffic roundabout.
Big Four accounting firm Deloitte has been announced as an anchor tenant.
Approved by the town council last October, M Station needs site plan approval from the planning board.
Thursdays meeting, conducted via Zoom because of the pandemic, was M Stations third before the board. An engineer and a traffic consultant testified previously.
When everyone Zooms back on June 11, 2020, Vitolo intends to present details on stagingwhen each piece will be built, and how those pieces will function as construction unfolds.
A fly-through by project consultant Roger Smith showed board members renderings of M Station as viewed from Morris and Spring streets; Spring Place; the Spring Hills assisted living center behind the site; and from the post office, near the Morristown Green.
Board Chairman Joe Stanley described it as one of the better design presentations hes seen. Wang insisted the real thing will surpass the drawings.
PENTHOUSES?
There were some questions. Board member Dick Tighe asked about lost revenue from metered parking spaces that will be eliminated on Morris Street and Lackawanna Place. Vitolo said he will discuss that next week with the Morristown Parking Authority.
Mayor Tim Dougherty said hes not convinced that 11-percent reflective windows and dimmed lights at night will avert bird strikes. He also sounded lukewarm about the terra-cotta design, saying he wanted to observe New York offices in that style.
And what happens when the murals 10-year warranty expires? inquired board member Debra Gottsleben. Wang said he hoped it would be a matter of pride for any future owner to maintain the scrims.
Renderings showed mechanical equipment atop the two buildings shielded from view by boxy structures Wang called penthouses.
To me, that doesnt look like a penthouse, said Board Planner Greer Patras.
And despite the architects efforts to create texture with cornices, colors and contrasting window patterns, Patras felt the buildings still appeared flat. She also contended the bright white parking deck clashed with the rest of the color scheme.
Morristown requires major developments to underwrite public art on their properties. Questioned by Patras, Wang said the murals are not meant to satisfy that obligation.
Project art will be discussed at a future meeting, said Vitolo, the M Station attorney.
Patras also wanted to know if M Station will include non-binary (gender-neutral) bathrooms (it wont), and whether the coronavirus, with its emphasis on social distancing and low-touch fixtures, has prompted any design changes.
Were still in the throes of the pandemic its definitely an ongoing dialogue we are having, Wang said.
A reporters questions about Deloittes lease status, and the viability of office buildings in a COVID-19 world, were not entertained; public questions were limited to specific testimony.
Large audiences brought plenty of questions to last years council hearings. Nobody watching from home on Thursday posed any queries to the board.
Responding to board questions from last weeks hearing, Vitolo said the developers have agreed to extend water lines to the roundabout for plantings. They also will monitor on-site air quality during construction, for the benefit of the Spring Hills assisted living center, he said.
In one of the Thursdays more interesting exchanges, Wang explained why windows represent 45 percent of the two buildings facades. Sunlight makes for happier, healthier employeeshe claimed hospitals with more sun have better patient outcomes.
Windows also symbolize transparency for companies like Deloitte, he asserted.
We want you to see us, and we want to see you, Wang said.
MORE ABOUT M STATION.
Here is the original post:
Here's what architects say M Station will look like in Morristown - Morristown Green
- Life on Earth gallery opens at UK, highlights architects and designers - Kykernel.com - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Backlash builds: why the architecture world hates The Brutalist - The Guardian - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Trump Call for Traditional Buildings Could Stifle Innovation, Architects Say - Hyperallergic - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Architects Announce Intimate "The Sky, The Earth & All Between" UK Release Shows - Theprp.com - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- fan-shaped bus stop by ginga architects welcomes schoolchildren in rural japan - Designboom - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Brutalism in CT and the architects who inspired 'The Brutalist' - CT Insider - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Serpentine Pavilion 2025 By Marina Tabassum Meditates On The Ephemeral Nature Of Architecture - Forbes - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Architects announce a series of release shows and signing sessions to promote the new album - Chaoszine - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Architect: Here's How to Build in Fire-Prone Areas | Newswise - Newswise - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- The Frick Announces Its Reopening Date, and Other News - Surface Magazine - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Bringing Nature Home: Architects are making trees part of the plan in new home design - Altoona Mirror - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- A first look at the 2025 Serpentine Pavilion designed by Marina Tabassum - Archinect - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- The Brutalist: an architects take on a film about one mans journey to realise his visionary building - The Conversation - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- We celebrate the emerging London architects to be excited about - Wallpaper* - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Outpost Office Takes Over the Wexner Center - World-Architects - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- "Modernist architects have to understand the world is not coming to an end" says Justin Shubow - Dezeen - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Port: The architects of North Dakota's property tax problem want to block its solution - INFORUM - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Meet the architects of India's Union Budget 2025 - NewsBytes - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Architects are bringing nature home by making trees part of the plan - telegraphherald.com - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- If Youve Ever Dreamed About an AutoCAD Video Game, Architect Life Should Be On Your Radar - VICE - January 31st, 2025 [January 31st, 2025]
- Melike Altnk Architects designs the world's first museum dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence serving as a pioneering cultural landmark,... - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Path Art Studio and Personalized Residence / Dishna Thilanka Architects - ArchDaily - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- The American Institute of Architects reaches 100,000 members, a first in organizations history - Boston Real Estate Times - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Oak Row Equities Wins Unanimous Approval from Urban Development Review Board for First & Fifth, a Luxury Multifamily Tower Designed by ODP... - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Architects are bringing nature home by making trees part of the plan - The Associated Press - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Architect reveals potential reasons why California home miraculously survived wildfire: 'Probably saved us there' - Yahoo! Voices - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Animal architects and their incredible homes - MSN - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Architects swear by natural material making waves in construction industry: 'I really want to see it taken much further into the mainstream' - Yahoo!... - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Wheels within wheels: Architects and industrial designers surveyed on enthusiasm for circular design strategies - Phys.org - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- "I Am Disappointed in Architects" Shigeru Ban on Socially Conscious Architecture in Louisiana Channel Interview - ArchDaily - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- How These Architects Designed One Of Mexicos Most Coveted Hotels - Forbes - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Epic Games Developers: The New Architects of Virtual Worlds. Are They Ready for the Metaverse? - Scimag.news - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- The National 9/11 Memorial was the most significant building of 2011 - Dezeen - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Architects are bringing nature home by making trees part of the plan - Albuquerque Journal - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Foster & Partners and Norm Architects Announced as Jury Members for the BHW Awards by inHAUS - ArchDaily - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Rebuilding Grandeur: Architect Pitches Reimagining Penn Station in Its Original Classical Splendor - W42ST magazine - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Designing for the Future: How Studio Architects Shapes Spaces That Last - Gwinnett Business Journal - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Architects are bringing nature home by making trees part of the plan - Lufkin Daily News - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Architects are bringing nature home by making trees part of the plan - Citizentribune - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- BKD Architects reimagines Dublin office with facade overhaul - Building Design - January 21st, 2025 [January 21st, 2025]
- Osaka Expo 'Grand Ring' a symbol of unity: architect - Japan Today - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Kiss-Architects is hiring a Intermediate Architect in Brooklyn, NY, US - Archinect - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Zaha Hadid Architects still wed to costly licensing agreement, UK court says - Archinect - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- STO.M.P on the architecture studio's work, love of craftmanship and 'the cinematic details' - Wallpaper* - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Six Columns, a home by 31/44 Architects for cofounder Will Burges, is raw and warm at once - The Architect's Newspaper - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Purpose by Design Architects to transform the site of a former sanitation garage into affordable housing on Staten Island - The Architect's Newspaper - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- AN Interior shares its favorite interiors covered in 2024 - The Architect's Newspaper - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Pertinent sustainability stories AN covered in 2024 - The Architect's Newspaper - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Artists and architects of cyberspace - Abitare English | Architecture and Design Magazine - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- The big sports stories and stadium projects AN covered in 2024 - The Architect's Newspaper - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Architect Zoltan Pali on 30 Years of Designing in L.A. and Whats Coming in 2025 - Commercial Observer - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- President Jimmy Carter, parks, environment, and housing champion, dies at 100 - The Architect's Newspaper - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Vector Architects funnels light to forest spa with tubular concrete lightwells - Dezeen - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Six architects and designers share the inspirations behind their craft and the magic of turning ideas into reality - Harpers Bazaar India - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Moorestown mansion designed by Reading Terminal architects is saved from demolition, but others could be lost - The Philadelphia Inquirer - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Lehrer Architects Unveils Gower Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, United States - ArchDaily - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- He will rot in hell: Iranians remember Jimmy Carter as architect of sanctions - The Times of Israel - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Architect debunks common misconceptions about energy-efficient homes after living in 'dream' house: 'It's cozy and warm in here without any heating... - January 3rd, 2025 [January 3rd, 2025]
- Morgan State professor fined for presenting himself as licensed architect - The Baltimore Banner - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- News | Friedrich St. Florian, One of Americas Most Accomplished Architects, Dies at 91 - GoLocalProv - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- New perspectives: Annabelle Selldorf brings a fresh angle to the National Gallerys Sainsbury Wing - Art Newspaper - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- The Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody, is an alluring bricolage of 20th-century, avant-garde architects and architecture - The Architect's Newspaper - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- What Happens When You Give an Architect 90 Minutes to Make a Gingerbread House - The Wall Street Journal - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- 10 animal architects and the unique homes they make - The Times of India - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- In The Brutalist, Adrien Brody Is an Architect Rebuilding Life From the Ruins - artnet News - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Vermont architects honor the best building projects in the state for 2024 - Burlington Free Press - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- The Brutalist, the epic new movie getting Oscar buzz, is built from the stories of postwar Jewish architects - JTA News - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- RODE Architects Wins Metropolis' 2024 Planet Positive Award for Single-Family Home - Business Wire - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- The Architect And His Car: Cold Start - The Autopian - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Gallery of Celebrating the Lives of Inspiring Architects Who Passed in 2024 - 1 - ArchDaily - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Gallery of Celebrating the Lives of Inspiring Architects Who Passed in 2024 - 2 - ArchDaily - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Celebrating the Lives of Inspiring Architects Who Passed in 2024 - ArchDaily - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- This listed house in London is transformed through a contemporary celebration of the arch - Wallpaper* - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- 2024, The Year in - - World-Architects - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Architect and Educator Deborah Berke Receives the 2025 AIA Gold Medal - ArchDaily - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- North Studios Rahul Bhushan: Im just a simple boy with a big dream to make the world a better place - Wallpaper* - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Architects lobby clashes with Ruto on tally of affordable houses built - Business Daily - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- It was so fragile, we werent certain it wouldnt collapse: the architect who sketched Notre Dames ancient insides - The Guardian - December 21st, 2024 [December 21st, 2024]
- Return of The Frugal Architect(s) - All Things Distributed - November 29th, 2024 [November 29th, 2024]
- HMFH Architects completes new all-electric public school as part of Bostons Green New Deal - The Architect's Newspaper - November 29th, 2024 [November 29th, 2024]