Market Tower

Market Tower
  1. About the Market Tower in Indianapolis
    1. Prizes & Awards
  2. Architect and team
  3. Architectural style
  4. Spaces and uses
  5. Structure and materials

The Market Tower is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Lohan Associates, and built between 1986 and 1988, for a reported $92.0 million dollars, in Indianapolis, IN.

Market Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as Mansur Center.

Its precise street address is 10 W Market Street, Indianapolis, IN. You can also find it on the map here.

The Market Tower has received multiple architecture awards for its architectural design since 1988. The following is a list of such prizes and awards:

  • Associated Builders & Contractors of IN Excellence in Construction in 1989
  • Monumental Affair Excellence in Design & Development Honor award in 1989
  • Indiana Concrete Council Outstanding Concrete Construction award in 1989
  • BOMA Award in 1991

The building underwent a major restoration between 2014 and 2016. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was Wright Hereema Architects.

Building's timeline

Construction begins
1986
38
Construction completed
1988
36
a
Restoration
2016
8
years ago
2024
  1. 2014 to 2016 - The renovation includes updating the building’s three-story lobby by replacing the dated granite with a brighter material and installing a multilevel video screen in place of the original fountain.

    Additionally, the fitness center was relocated from the third floor to the second, where both quiet and recreational common spaces were created.

    Outdated floors were also transformed into modern workspaces.. The architect in charge was Wright Hereema Architects.

Architect and team

Lohan Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design. But there was also one other architect involved, as far as we know. We are talking about RATIO Associates.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Market Tower a reality:

  • Huber, Hunt & Nichols as the Main Contractor
  • Enclos Corp. in charge of Facade Consultancy
  • Mansur Development Corporation as the Main Developer

Architectural Style

The Market Tower can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

Postmodernism in architecture emerged in the United States during the late 1960s as a reaction against the starkness of the International Style, which part of the new generation of architects argued was too impersonal, sterile, and disconnected from historical and cultural contexts.

Postmodernism challenged the International Style's austerity by reintroducing historical elements and ornamentation, although this time not as literally as in the Neo-Classic buildings. Instead, they reinterpreted them within the context of modern materials and construction techniques.

Postmodern buildings often feature bold, contrasting colors, unconventional forms, and a playful blend of various architectural elements from different eras and cultures.

In the United States, Postmodernism was not just an aesthetic choice but also a philosophical stance. It represented a democratization of design, where architects sought to create buildings that were accessible and meaningful to a broader range of people, not just designers and intellectuals.

The Market Tower was completed in 1988. At that time Postmodernism was the prevailing style. Fresh, bold and daring, architects were exploring the freedom of designing without having to follow the strict, sometimes arbitrary rules of a specific architectural movement (which ironically became a movement itself). The Market Tower was therefore every much in line with what the architecture community, and the people liked and wanted at the time.

Spaces & Uses

The Market Tower reaches an architectural height of 420ft (128m). It has a total of 35 floors, 32 above ground and 3 basements, served by 12 elevators, which combined offer a total of 508,508 sqf (47,242m2) of usable space.

In regards to parking space, the building has a total of 700 spots available, which roughly equals 22 spots per floor (above ground), or one parking spot per every 721 sqf (67m2) of usable space.

Ever since opening its doors to the public in 1988, the Market Tower has mainly been used as Commercial space.

420ft (128m)
3 basements

Materials & Structure

The Market Tower uses a frame structure made of concrete columns and concrete, steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a curtain wall system made of red and gray Brazilian granite with a flamed finish from Mondariz and tinted glass, forming a joint grid with the metal mullions that frame the tinted glass windows and a four-story entry arches.

A series of setbacks lead to a hipped copper roofing supported and topped with eight spires.

Sources

  • downtownindy.org
  • en.wikipedia.org
  • indyencyclopedia.org
  • www.loopnet.com
  • www.concrete.org
  • www.capitolconstruct.com
  • www.indyofficespace.com