The Egg

The Egg – named for its iconic design – is the Empire State Plaza’s Center for the Performing Arts. The A|r Vertical Transportation studio was invited to provide complete elevator modernization for the facility. The unique building required six custom-designed elevators, including four circular passenger elevators, a hydraulic platform lift that services six floors, and a one-of-a-kind hydraulic stage lift with a travel distance of over 100 feet.

Some fun facts about this historic building and our elevator modernization:

Although the “stem” holding up the Egg seems to rest on the platform of the sidewalk, it actually anchors the building by going down six stories into the ground.
There are virtually no straight lines throughout the entire building construction (including our rounded elevators!)
The Egg’s stage lift is adaptable to the size of the performance. For larger equipment and set designs, the opening height can be increased to over 22 feet.

Workflow

Here at A|r we operate as a design studio. What does this mean exactly? It means that our multidisciplinary staff comes together as a team to collaborate and develop as a unified whole.

Making Place

There is no placemaking without people. As we move together toward a post-covid era, what new factors will impact our sense of place? The tools of placemaking were important before, and now they are crucial to how we experience our environment.

Introducing the Grid

Introducing the Grid, our newest addition to Buffalo’s inventory of distinct residential facilities

Maryvale Hospital - Behavioral Health Planning

Maryvale Hospital – Phoenix, AZ

We are excited to collaborate with Maricopa Integrated Health System on converting Phoenix’s Maryvale Hospital into a 203 bed Behavioral Health Hospital.