Dallas, Texas
After years of planning and discussions with the client, the Dallas city council, as well as neighboring hotels, businesses, and residences, the AT&T Discovery District by Barry Hand of Gensler with Studio Outside established a new landmark for the city and its people.
At the forefront of innovation, The AT&T Discovery District blurs the boundaries between corporate and lifestyle environments by transforming the company’s global headquarters into an enticing urban campus inclusive to all.
The AT&T Discovery District has recently been awarded a 2022 American Architecture Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The District cleverly combines physical and digital environments with a matrix of fully connected digital platforms, seamlessly integrated into the buildings and landscape.
This immersive media-rich experience enables curated take-overs of lighting, audio, and digital content.
Throughout years of planning, the architecture and design team helped facilitate discussions between the client and the Dallas city council, as well as neighboring hotels, businesses, and residences to present the proposed media-rich space.
After conducting numerous hearing sessions with the public and city officials, the project acquired unanimous approval.
Additionally, the design and implementation of The AT&T Discovery District is in line with the Downtown Dallas Inc. and the City of Dallas’ Downtown Dallas 360 plan, which aims to advance urban mobility, build complete neighborhoods, and promote great placemaking.
Since opening, The AT&T Discovery District has created new growth in a previously inactive area of Dallas.
Its presence and offerings provide new opportunities for neighboring hotels, retailers, and the convention center, establishing an entirely new landmark for the city and its people.
Through merging technology, art, and culture, a unique architectural experience has been crafted with The District, blending the boundaries between physical and digital realms.
It also showcases diverse elements of art, local and nationally acclaimed dining, unparalleled media architecture, a matrix of digital platforms, and retail adding to its public attraction and energy level.
Powered by 100 percent wind energy and showcasing AT&T’s 5G and 5G+ network — The AT&T Discovery District introduces a diverse range of mixed-use attractions including the following:
• AT&T HQ LOBBY — A floor-to-ceiling fusion of architecture, multi-media content, and technology — transforms AT&T’s global headquarters. With over 56 million pixels, everyone is welcome to step inside for a spellbinding, immersive experience. Inside is the AT&T Showcase, an art gallery featuring a variety of exhibits, including an array of local and national talent.
• AT&T EXPERIENCE STORE — Designed to be engaging and interactive, bringing the latest technology and media elements to educate people on new ways to watch and access the content they love.
• THE GLOBE — A first of its kind in the world — the Globe is a 30-foot interactive, spherical sculpture, comprised of a mirrored shell, color-changing lights, speakers, and motion sensors located in its interior. The structure rotates on a 180-degree axis and features an interactive light and sound experience that senses and responds to visitors’ motion and energy levels.
• MEDIA WALL — Standing 104 feet tall, almost 90 feet wide, the Media Wall is the centerpiece of the District’s digital art and entertainment takeover moments. With more than 18 million pixels, it wraps the building at the corner of Jackson and Akard Streets and is visible from more than seven city blocks away.
• THE PLAZA — Provides multiple outdoor spaces to support a variety of activities and events, including a grove, a lawn, and an integrated media ecosystem, made possible by transforming streets into pedestrian paths.
• THE EXCHANGE — A two-story food hall with bars and diverse eateries operated by the best-in-class chefs both locally and nationally.
• JAXON TEXAS KITCHEN AND BEER GARDEN — The first restaurant to open at the AT&T Discovery District, serves modern Texas fare and more than 30 beers on tap, providing a casual, rustic destination for employees and visitors alike.
The AT&T Discovery District is a trendsetter for urban corporate campuses.
It demonstrates the power of design in revitalizing cities and is a brilliant example of how design can help a global company engage employees while highlighting its role in enhancing and redefining a local community.
For a project to achieve this level of perpetual transformation, it was a unique process with unique elements that required intense synergy efforts among the design team, fabricators, and technologists, leveraging computational design, and mockups, to see the project through completion.
As part of its effort to make The District accessible to all, the project team collaborated with Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the City of Dallas, Downtown Dallas Inc., local businesses, and ridesharing services to simplify the trip downtown.
The current bus lane on Commerce Street was converted into a designated drop-off lane for visitors.
Pedestrian walkways have also been added to create a more walkable area, and a more energized and vibrant downtown.
Despite the complexity of the project, resilient strategies were prioritized for development.
Altogether, the project was carefully planned to achieve SITES certification, making it one of the few urban projects to earn this recognition.
Key sustainability metrics include:
• 40% reduction of the use of potable water for landscape irrigation.
• 88% of materials and construction services have been purchased locally, which meets the requirement for exemplary performance.
• 95.7% of road and infrastructure materials and 78.8% of structural materials diverted from landfill.
• 31,957 square feet of disturbed soil areas have been restored and re-vegetated.
The architectural design sets a precedent for other urban environments to continually strive to catalyze growth around them through unique solutions.
The revitalization of an area that was underutilized will provide long-term economic benefits to area businesses and help boost the relationship between the client and the city.
The investment in its workplace will also help in terms of talent retention and employee well-being.
With many developers, designers, and landlords scrambling to re-imagine workplaces, The AT&T Discovery District is perfectly positioned to serve as the benchmark for other developments to emulate.
Before officially opening, The District organically became a haven for people during the pandemic seeking an enjoyable outdoor environment to live, work, and play.
Project: AT&T Discovery District
Architects: Gensler
Lead Architect: Barry Hand
Design Team: Ross Conway, Justin Rankin, Christian Lehmkuhl, Stephen Walsh, Kelley Hyatt, Adam Tate, Lars Berg, Andrew Triplett, and Jo Pang
Associate Architects: Studio Outside
Client: AT&T
Contractor: The Beck Group
Photographers: Grant Gay and Kathy Tran
