Use these five questions to Diagnose Your Habitat, focused on tall buildings at street level.

1. Street Level
Integration and Animation

2. Does the design contribute
to adjacent street life?
Is it interesting (or boring
and generic) to walk by?
Does it create a lively
place—or a dead zone?
Does it pull you in—or is it
unfriendly?
Does it turn it’s back on the
city—or embrace it?
DIAGNOSE YOUR HABITAT
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3. Leadenhall Building, London, UK

4. The Qube in downtown Detroit animates the street with color and a
variety of seating types at 611 Woodward Ave (14 floors, built in 1959).

5. 590 Madison Ave is a place
where people want to be.
Natural light, plants, art and
clustered seating encourage
social interaction.
The atrium is highly visible
from the exterior, which adds
to the experience of people
walking on 57th Street.
It’s an inviting space in an
office building which is among
those able to charge top rental
rates in midtown Manhattan.
DIAGNOSE YOUR HABITAT

6. 590 Madison Ave, New York

7. DIAGNOSE YOUR HABITAT
This market spills out onto the street creating a place people
want to be, with a sense of abundance.

8. Portland, OR

9. An open corner was designed to connect with street activities at the
8-story Ryerson Student Learning Centre in Toronto. (opening March 2015)
rendering: Snøhetta with Zeidler Partnership Architects

10. DIAGNOSE YOUR HABITAT: This example in Vancouver’s Yaletown
demonstrates variety, authenticity, and integration with nature.

11. At the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, tall buildings are linked
with lively, open walkways, and seating that flows into adjacent streets.

12. 41 Cooper Square, New York
Does the design contribute
to adjacent street life?
Is it interesting (or boring
and generic) to walk by it?
Does it create a lively
place—or a dead zone?
Does it pull you in—or is it
unfriendly?
Does it turn it’s back on the
city—or embrace it?
DIAGNOSE YOUR
HABITAT

13. TALL BUILDINGS:
ON THE VALUE OF STREET-LEVEL ANIMATION
“People are now realizing that profits don’t come just from
creating large floor plates but rather from the value of the whole
site, including public space, contextual connections, and a rich
mix of uses. So my private and public clients increasingly share
the same goals.”
This can be one of the great public spaces AND revenue source.”
-Ken Greenberg

14. Diagnose Your Habitat!
a series by Sharon VanderKaay @svkaay