事務(wù)所簡介 About TVS

Janet Simpson

Foster Lynn

Earle Craft

Becky Ward

Thompson、Ventulett、Stainback聯(lián)合公司（TVS），最初憑借其設(shè)計的歐姆尼體育館（1968-72年）而聲名鵲起。歐姆尼體育館位于亞特蘭大，是可容納16,500名觀眾的多功能競技場。以姆尼體育館等城市設(shè)計項目為基礎(chǔ)，TVS聯(lián)合設(shè)計師約翰·波特曼（John Portman)，成為亞特蘭大市首要設(shè)計公司，負責該城市內(nèi)商貿(mào)及會議場所設(shè)計，而當時亞特蘭大已發(fā)展為國際貿(mào)易中心。

截頂?shù)氖旨茏刁w和四個懸臂式桁架構(gòu)成了歐姆尼體育館的“正交四套桁架”體系。建筑外部是戈坦鋼（Cor-Ten）耐候鋼及玻璃構(gòu)建的框架體，這里是各運動隊的集合場地，包括亞特蘭大老鷹隊（籃球隊）和亞特蘭大火焰隊（亞特蘭大第一曲棍球隊）；是埃維斯·普里斯利（Elvis Presley）最后巡演音樂會的舉辦地；也是其它著名文化活動的舉辦地。此外，這里還曾召開了1988年民主黨全國代表大會。

體育館建造之時，TVS才剛剛成立不久，只有三個合伙人：Bill Thompson（負責業(yè)務(wù)），Ray Stainback（負責技術(shù)），和Tom Ventulett（負責設(shè)計）。Ventulett，1958年畢業(yè)于喬治亞理工學院建筑學專業(yè)，對其母校有著特殊情懷，他曾參與各項認證評估，針對自己的作品進行講座，還聘用母校畢業(yè)生，并且對這些年輕人進行培訓。此外，在公司、家人、及朋友的支持下，他還以自己的名義支持喬治亞第一名建筑學講座教授——Thomas W. Ventulett III 任教喬治亞理工學院建筑設(shè)計專業(yè)的特約講座教授。

亞特蘭大早期項目

20世紀70年代，TVS繼續(xù)開發(fā)歐姆尼體育館周邊地區(qū)。1976年，喬治亞世界會議中心開始建造。經(jīng)過四個階段的開發(fā)，到2002年，喬治亞世界會議中心已成為占地150萬平方英尺的集展廳、舞廳、會議廳、大型注冊廳于一體的綜合性場所。這些建筑物，再加上6英畝的園林綠化，統(tǒng)稱為喬治亞國際廣場（1996年）。

喬治亞國際會議中心第一開發(fā)階段時，與其相鄰的是歐姆尼國際（后來的CNN中心；1976年），這是一個由風化鋼和青銅色玻璃建成的多功能綜合體，包括2棟14層的寫字樓和1棟500個房間的酒店，形成一個全高度中廳。歐姆尼國際的設(shè)計初衷是建造一個家庭娛樂中心。因此這里還包括Sid and Marty Krofft 游樂園（世界上第一個室內(nèi)游樂園）、1部8層電梯、以及一個奧林匹克級別的溜冰場。到20世紀90年代后期，歐姆尼競技場被拆毀，取而代之的是菲利浦斯球館。該球館于1999年對外開放。

國家委員會

受歐姆尼體育館以及世界會議中心的影響，TVS開始著手在全國34個城市內(nèi)設(shè)計會議及公共集會場所。公司設(shè)計的賓夕法尼亞州會議中心（1990-93），保留了9層的閱讀終點候車室（(1891-93），并對閱讀終點列車棚進行了改造；這是賓夕法尼亞州最大的公共建設(shè)工程。1996年TVS主要集中精力于猶他州鹽湖城的鹽宮會議中心項目。同年，TVS將伊利諾斯州芝加哥市的邁考密展覽中心（1971年建成，1986年曾擴建一倍）擴大了一倍多，建成邁考密展覽中心南樓，展覽空間擴增900,000平方英尺。

TVS影響力

TVS的重要影響之一是改變了亞特蘭大以及美國其他城市的天際線。1976年，TVS在密蘇里州圣路易斯建成商業(yè)大廈，成為當時密蘇里州最高建筑。1983至1991年，歷經(jīng)3個階段的匯合企業(yè)中心建成，其中位于亞特蘭大北部郊區(qū)著名的“國王和王后型國際象棋”塔將該項目推向頂點。

二十世紀90年代早期，TVS成為呼吁“綠色”建筑運動（及環(huán)保建筑）的領(lǐng)軍企業(yè)。位于富爾頓縣北部桑迪斯普林斯的聯(lián)合包裹服務(wù)公司總部（1994年），采用了獨特的建造方法，36英畝的綠化區(qū)基本保留，只建了2棟7層的樓，中間以5層高的連廊作為橋梁，形成一個峽谷形狀。聯(lián)合包裹服務(wù)公司總部結(jié)合了建筑特色和環(huán)保功能，有利于節(jié)約能源。

城市設(shè)計

二十世紀80年代以來，TVS在城市設(shè)計方面的成就顯著，尤其是亞特蘭大市中心區(qū)第14至第7段街道中沿桃樹路路段的設(shè)計。從AT&T中高層的地區(qū)總部（散步長廊1，1981年），到中心區(qū)桃樹路1275號（1984年），桃樹路1315號（1986年），鐘樓（1987年），散步長廊2（1990年），Woodruff 藝術(shù)中心25周年改造（1993-1995年），到鏡框式舞臺（1999-2001年），TVS所創(chuàng)造的不只是一棟棟建筑物，更是一幅幅絕佳的城市設(shè)計畫作。

無論人們是否注意到這些建筑之間的關(guān)聯(lián)，不可否認的是，TVS已悄然改造了城市格局，明確了城市空間分布，建造了一個又一個歷史性的中心地標。比較典型的建筑是中心區(qū)桃樹路1275號建筑，成為亞特蘭大仍舉足輕重的基督教科學派第一教堂（1914年）的背景建筑。該教堂由 Edward E. Dougherty 以及 Arthur Neal Robinson Sr. 建造，作為安斯利公園的入口，是亞特蘭大為數(shù)不多的具有歷史意義的美學杰作。TVS的設(shè)計突出了教堂的莊嚴性，同時保證不會喧賓奪主，兩個建筑在規(guī)模、宏偉和威嚴性、以及主導和特色性等方面交相輝映，相得益彰。

在對 Robert W. Woodruff 藝術(shù)中心的改造中，TVS通過獨具時代風格的廟宇式細長柱廊，來體現(xiàn)藝術(shù)中心的魅力，突出顯示建筑沿路的一面。與其相毗鄰的是理查德·邁耶（Richard Meier）設(shè)計的標志性建筑——藝術(shù)博物館（1983年）。搭配上具有都市韻味和活力的裝飾品，建筑的沿街面很好地體現(xiàn)了亞特蘭大最著名街道——桃樹路上特有的韻律和活力。

1996年，TVS憑借其設(shè)計的亞特蘭大都市停車場聯(lián)合路，獲得亞特蘭大城市設(shè)計委員會頒布的獎項。該項目由TVS與亞特蘭大 Love-Stanley 公司合作完成。

以自主性設(shè)計室為核心，TVS聯(lián)合公司集合了300名左右專業(yè)人士，主要負責項目從構(gòu)思階段到竣工完成整個過程中的監(jiān)督工作。這一舉措使得顧客在整個設(shè)計過程中可以與建筑師相接觸，增加了項目的成功幾率。結(jié)構(gòu)上的調(diào)整，同時也體現(xiàn)了公司的重要理念——任何類型與規(guī)模的建筑，其根本上都是以人為核心的。2002年，美國建筑師協(xié)會（AIA）授予TVS建筑公司獎，這是AIA最高公司級獎項。

The firm of Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback, and Associates (TVS) first came into prominence with the building of Atlanta's Omni Coliseum (1968-72), a multipurpose arena seating 16,500 spectators. On the strength of this and other urban design projects, TVS joins architect John Portman as Atlanta's premier designers of trade and convention space, in a city that has become an international trading center.

The Omni featured an "ortho-quad truss" system of truncated rood pyramids and four cantilevered trusses. The building was sheathed in Cor-Ten weathering steel and glass, and it served as the venue for sports teams, including the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and the Atlanta Flames, the city's first hockey team; a concert on singer Elvis Presley's final tour; and other popular culture events. It was also the site of the 1988 Democratic National Convention.

When the Omni was built, TVS had just been established with three partners: Bill Thompson (business), Ray Stainback (technical), and Tom Ventulett (design).Ventulett, a 1958 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture, maintained a unique relationship with his alma mater, participating in accreditation evaluations, lecturing on his work, and hiring and training graduates.He also lent his name, sponsored by his firm, family, and friends, to the first endowed chair in architecture in Georgia, the Thomas W. Ventulett III Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design at Georgia Tech.

Early Atlanta Projects

TVS continued to develop the site around the Omni during the early 1970s, opening the Georgia World Congress Center in 1976. By 2002 the center had developed in four phases to almost a million and a half square feet of exhibition space,ballrooms, meeting rooms, and large registration areas. These structures, as well as approximately six acres of landscaping, are collectively called the Georgia International Plaza (1996).

Contemporary with the first phase of this development, and adjacent to it, was Omni International (later CNN Center; 1976), a multiuse complex of two 14-story office buildings and a 500-room hotel, forming a full-height atrium of weathered steel and bronze glass. Conceived as a family entertainment center, the complex featured the Sid and Marty Krofft amusement park (the world's first indoor amusement park), an 8-story escalator (the longest in the world at the time), and an Olympic-sized skating rink. In the late 1990s the Omni arena was torn down and replaced by Philips Arena,which opened in 1999.

National Commissions

No doubt the Omni development and the World Congress Center influenced the selection of TVS to design convention and public assembly facilities in some thirtyfour cities nationally. The firm's Pennsylvania Convention Center (1990-93) in Philadelphia preserved the nine-story Reading Terminal Headhouse (1891-93)and adapted the Reading Terminal Trainshed; the complex was the largest public construction project in Pennsylvania. In 1996 the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a major project, and that same year TVS more than doubled McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois (already doubled in 1986 from its 1971 original), to provide 900,000 square feet of additional exhibition space at the McCormick Place South Building.

TVS lnfluence

TVS has notably changed the skyline of Atlanta, as well as the skylines of other cities in the United States. In 1976 the firm built the Mercantile Tower in St. Louis,Missouri, the state's tallest building at the time. The Concourse Corporate Center,built in three phases from 1983 to 1991, culminated in the famed "king and queen chess" towers of north suburban Atlanta.

In the early 1990s the firm became a leader in the movement calling for "green," or environmentally responsible, architecture. The United Parcel Service headquarters complex (1994) in Sandy Springs, in north Fulton County, employed unique construction methods to leave much of the thirty-six-acre forested site undisturbed while erecting two seven-story structures connected by a five-story atrium bridge,which spans a ravine. Architectural and environmental features of the complex were designed, moreover, to conserve energy.

Urban Design

Highly significant is TVS's commitment to urban design since the 1980s, especially evidenced in midtown Atlanta along Peachtree Street between Fourteenth and Seventh streets. Beginning with the mid-rise regional headquarters of AT&T(Promenade One, 1981) and continuing in building after building—1275 Peachtree at the Circle (1984), 1315 Peachtree (1986), the Campanile (1987), Promenade Two(1990), the twenty-fifth anniversary renovation of the Woodruff Arts Center (1993-95),and the Proscenium (1999-2001)—TVS has created a vision that moves beyond architecture to the best traditions of urban design.

Ever mindful of the relationships of building forms to one another, TVS has shaped urban space, defined scale, and accommodated landmark historic focal points. One notable example of this care is the building 1275 Peachtree at the Circle, which serves as a backdrop for the still-dominating First Church of Christ, Scientist, Atlanta(1914). Built by Edward E. Dougherty and Arthur Neal Robinson Sr. and forming the historic entry to Ansley Park, the church is a Beaux-Arts masterpiece, among the city's few remaining. The TVS building does not compete with but reinforces the church's monumentality and distinguishes between size and scale, bigness and power, dominance and character.

In reconfiguring the Robert W. Woodruff Arts Center, TVS brought pizzazz to a period-stylized and emaciated temple colonnade, upscaling the building's curbside face to take its place alongside Richard Meier's iconic High Museum of Art (1983).With the urbane and dynamic flare of its adornments, the new facade's accents mark the rhythms and energy of passing traffic on Atlanta's most prestigious avenue,Peachtree Street.

In 1996 TVS received an Atlanta Urban Design Commission award for the design of the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta's parking deck, a collaborative project with the Atlanta firm Stanley, Love-Stanley.

With approximately 300 professionals, TVS and Associates is organized around a system of largely autonomous design studios, which are generally responsible for overseeing a project from conception through completion. This practice allows clients to have contact with the architects throughout the design process and has promoted repeated successes. This corporate structure also reflects a theme that informs the firm's work—that architecture, no matter the building type or size, is all about people. In 2002 the American Institute of Architects (AIA)named TVS a recipient of the AIA Architecture Firm Award, the highest honor the AIA confers on a firm.