AON Center Plaza

Redefining the Image of High-rise Workplace

Renovations to the plaza of Chicago’s third-tallest skyscraper include accessible green space and plenty of seating to welcome back a post-pandemic workforce. The Aon Center was completed as the Standard Oil Building in downtown Chicago in 1974. Designed by Edward Durell Stone, the building’s surrounding plazas were designed by his son, Edward Durell Stone Jr. In 2020, 601W Companies of New York aimed to redesign the aging plaza landscape; tailoring to a younger work force, the client hoped to redefine the image of the high-rise workplace. The Lower Plaza, the front door to the third tallest building on Chicago’s skyline, is the last phase to complete the vision.

The new plaza layout gives a nod to the Aon Center’s noteworthy triangular columns and pays heed to the simplicity of the original Durell Stone design but speaks to a new, relaxed corporate office language of today. The plaza was designed not only as an amenity to tenants but sought to enhance the circulation to the building’s main entry. A ten-foot vertical drop from the street to plaza level will be replaced with a lightweight sloping landform. The landform allows for a seamless transition and removal of the boundary between the public and private realms. Enhanced social and community opportunities are planned for gatherings, café seating, after-hours lounging and a welcoming park-like environment. Substantial planting areas create changing vibrant interest through all seasons, and account for the complexities of existing infrastructure present throughout the subsurface of the plaza.