CODA at Tech Square
Atlanta, GA
Category: 2020 Corporate
Architect: Portman Architects
Designer: Ai3
Starnet Member:
DCO Commercial Floors
Starnet Preferred Vendors:
Armstrong Flooring, Daltile, MAPEI, Matter Surfaces, Milliken Commercial, Tarkett Collection Hard Surfaces
Project Strategy
In musical terms, a coda marks the conclusion of a movement. The word has a different meaning in Atlanta, where CODA at Tech Square is an extraordinary frontier of technology. The space is crafted for creative interaction between researchers and students from Georgia Tech and area universities, Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders. The LEED Platinum-certified 755,000 square foot creative hub enjoins 21 stories of workspaces, labs, event, dining and retail spaces, connected by the world’s tallest spiral staircase. Far from the uninviting and compartmentalized structure of many research facilities, CODA blends natural textures with concrete and steel in spaces both expansive and niche. Miliken Commercial carpet grounds the collaborative spaces with shades of gray and leaf green, at times transitioning to the natural finish of the Armstrong Performance Plus white oak flooring through subtle intarsia. Georgia Tech’s “research neighborhoods” in the building collocates academics and entrepreneurs in disciplines such as cybersecurity, aerospace science, machine learning, health analytics, and computational finance. The future may start with ideas bounced off the Tarkett-Johnsonite rubber base of each floor, or step on the MATS, Inc. walk-off mat on the way to the lab. The space is home to the first twin-cab elevators in north America, allowing CODA’s busy groundbreakers to hustle from floor to floor in cars outfitted with Daltile Haut Monde in Glitterati Granite. Each material was selected for its beauty, durability and sustainability, creating a natural incubator for ideas of the same nature.