400 West Market

The 400 West Market is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects, in association with John Burgee, and built between 1991 and 1993, for a reported $100 million dollars, in Louisville, KY.

400 West Market is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• Capital Holdings Building between 1993 and 1994.
• Providian Center between 1994 and 1997.
• AEGON Center between 1997 and 2010.

Its precise street address is 400 West Market Street, Louisville, KY. You can also find it on the map here.

The tower features an extensive gardened open space on the South side, with an adjacent five-level building housing the parking space.

Johnson/Burgee Architects was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with John Burgee.

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 at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Gerald D. Hines Interests as the Main Developer.

The 400 West Market can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

The 400 West Market was completed in 1993. By 1993 the Postmodernism movement was experiencing a transition. Critics argued that Postmodernism, initially a rebellious and innovative style, had become formulaic and commercialized, and so the trend started moving away from blending historical styles, irony, and playful ornamentation, and begun to give way to emerging architectural trends concerned with more present matters such as technology, ecology or sustainability.

The 400 West Market uses a frame structure made of reinforced concrete columns and steel and concrete 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.

The facade uses a non-load bearing modular, or panelized system. This type of facade can function as either a window wall or a curtain wall, depending on the design. Unlike traditional glass curtain walls or window walls though, the modular facade is not primarily composed of glass. Instead, it often features more opaque panels that mimic masonry or stone-clad finishes, with smaller windows cut into the panels.

This type of facade allows the building to benefit from the modern qualities of a curtain wall while giving the design team flexibility to achieve visual aesthetics beyond the all-glass modern skyscraper.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features light-colored polished Italian granite with dark teel moldings accentuating the 15-meter-high two-story base. The entryway features Art Deco-style lanterns and window grilles crafted from polished nickel.

Crowning the tower rises a 24-meter-high Romanesque traceried dome. The dome is illuminated and can change colors on special locations such as Thanksgiving or New Year's eve.