Cummins Commons Office Building

Koetter Kim

2009
Cummins Commons Office Building is a four-story downtown office structure built on the site of the former Commons Mall. Its glass curtain wall faces Courthouse Square, while the corner entry recalls historic bay windows and Saarinen’s Irwin Union Bank. Energy-efficient and LEED Silver certified, the building was later doubled in size with a five-story addition featuring a terraced atrium, rooftop garden, and restaurants at street level.

The five-story addition doubles the office area, with a four-story terraced atrium next to the existing building, providing daylight and social gathering spaces in the center of the expanded office floor. The connection between the new addition and the existing building features a “bow tie” project, for viewing up and down the street, and a “butterfly” inverted roof to direct daylight down into the interiors. The 4th Street front is reduced to three stories, to match the height of the adjacent Commons, with restaurants on the street level. The fourth floor features a corner terrace and a vegetated green roof.