The city of Atlanta has seen works by most major U.S. firms and some of the more prominent architects of the 20th century, including Michael Graves, Richard Meier, Renzo Piano, Paul Rudolph, and Robert A.M. Stern. Atlanta's most notable hometown architect may be John Portman whose creation of the atrium hotel beginning with the Hyatt Regency Atlanta (1968) made a significant mark on the hospitality sector. A graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Architecture, Portman's work reshaped downtown Atlanta with his designs for the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, Peachtree Center, the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, and SunTrust Plaza.
Atlanta's reputation as a postwar American city is reflected in its architecture. It has often been the earliest, if not the first, to showcase new architectural concepts. However, Atlanta's embrace of modernism has translated into an ambivilance toward historic preservation, resulting in the destruction of notable architectural landmarks, including the Equitable Building (Atlanta's first skyscraper), Terminal Station, and the Carnegie Library. The city's cultural icon, the Fox Theatre, would have met the same fate had it not been for a grassroots effort to save it in the mid-1970s..[1]
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Most of Atlanta was burned during the Civil War, depleting the city of a large stock of its historic architecture. Yet Atlanta, architecturally, had never been particularly "southern." Because Atlanta originated as a railroad town, rather than a patrician southern seaport like Savannah or Charleston, many of the city's landmarks could have easily been erected in the Northeast or Midwest.[1] In addition, unlike many other Southern cities, such as Richmond, Charleston, Wilmington, and New Orleans, Atlanta chose not to retain what remained of its historic antebellum architectural characteristics. Instead, Atlanta viewed itself as the leading city of a progressive "New South", and opted for expressive modern structures.[2]
Arts facilities have led the way for modernists in Atlanta architecture with the High Museum designed by Richard Meier with a 2005 addition by Renzo Piano. Also on the horizon is a new home for the Atlanta Symphony Center. Recently re-sited, the hall will not be designed by Santiago Calatrava as originally planned. A new architect will be selected and the hall will be built as soon as fundraising can be completed. A recent design competition resulted in Freelon Associates (in conjunction with HOK) being selected as the architect for the new $100 million dollar home of the Center for Civil and Human Rights. Michael Graves' post-modern style is exhibited in the Ten Peachtree Place office building in Midtown and the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University. The 50 story One Atlantic Center was designed by Philip Johnson in association with John Burgee.
Atlanta also has its own Flatiron Building, built in 1897, five years before the more famous Flatiron Building in New York City (1902).[3] The Atlanta-Fulton County Central Library, completed in 1980, was designed by Bauhaus member Marcel Breuer (though he didn't live to see its completion). Another historic building of architectural importance to Atlanta is the Fox Theatre, which was saved from the threat of demolition in 1974.
Atlanta is home to a number of progressive architecture firms, including the award-winning, internationally acclaimed Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (formerly Scogin, Elam and Bray). Major commercial commissions are typically dominated by large corporate firms such as Heery International, Stevens and Wilkinson, Perkins and Will, Lord Aeck & Sargent, Smallwood Reynolds and Associates, and TVS (Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates). Smaller, contemporary practices include BLDGS, Lightroom, Tardio Architecture, Dencity, G+G Architects, Houser Walker Architecture, plexus r+d, Square Feet Studio, and Rutledge Alcock Architects.
The Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture, located just west of midtown Atlanta offers both pre-professional undergraduate and professional graduate degrees in architecture, and hosts regular lectures and symposia of interest to students and professionals. Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, offers a five-year professional undergraduate degree and also hosts lectures and exhibits works in the architecture building's gallery space.
The Young Architects Forum of the Atlanta chapter of the American Institute of Architects sponsors open design competitions, exhibits, and lectures of interest to the profession and the general public. Modern Atlanta is an independent organization which presents the yearly MA tours of contemporary homes, special lectures, and design industry events.
| Rank | Name | Height ft (m) |
Floors | Year | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bank of America Plaza | 1,023 (312) | 55 | 1992 | 42nd-tallest building in the world, 8th-tallest in the U.S. Has been the tallest building in Atlanta, Georgia and the Southern United States since 1992. Tallest building in any U.S. state capital.[4] |
| 2 | SunTrust Plaza | 871 (265) | 60 | 1992 | 77th-tallest building in the world, 25th-tallest in the U.S.[5] |
| 3 | One Atlantic Center | 820 (250) | 50 | 1987 | 125th-tallest building in the world, 38th-tallest in the U.S. Also known as the IBM Tower.[6][7][8] |
| 4 | 191 Peachtree Tower | 770 (235) | 50 | 1990 | 200th-tallest building in the world, 57th-tallest in the U.S.[9][10] |
| 5 | Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel | 723 (220) | 73 | 1976 | 93rd-tallest building in the U.S. Stood as the tallest all-hotel building in the world from 1976 until 1977.[11][12] |
| 6 | Georgia-Pacific Tower | 697 (212) | 52 | 1982 | [13][14] |
| 7 | Promenade II | 691 (211) | 38 | 1990 | [15][16] |
| 8 | AT&T Midtown Center | 677 (206) | 47 | 1982 | Also known as the BellSouth Building.[17][18] |
| 9 | 3344 Peachtree* | 665 (203) | 48 | 2008 | This building was topped out in October 2007, becoming the 9th-tallest building in Atlanta. Also known as the Sovereign.[19][20] |
| 10 | 1180 Peachtree | 657 (200) | 41 | 2006 | Formerly known as the Symphony Center.[21][22] |
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