Central Place Tower

The Central Place Tower is a Contemporary skyscraper designed between 2002 and 2008 by Beyer Blinder Belle, and built between 2008 and 2017 in Arlington, VA.

Central Place Tower 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:

• CEB Tower at Central Place between 2018 and 2024.
• Central Place Tower from 2024 until this day.

Its precise street address is 1201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA. You can also find it on the map here.

The Central Place Tower, together with another residential tower, forms the Central Place development. Both are separated by a public plaza.

The complex is located directly above the Rosslyn Metro station.

Although construction began in 2008, the Great Recession caused it to be halted in 2014, and it was not completed until 2018..

Beyer Blinder Belle was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

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 Central Place Tower a reality:

• Tadjer-Cohen-Edelson Associates, Inc. in charge of Structural Engineering
• Clark Construction as the Main Contractor
• JBG Smith as the Main Developer
• TOLK in charge of MEP Engineering
• Michael Vergason Landscape Architects in charge of Landscape Architecture

The Central Place Tower can be categorized as a Contemporary building.

The Central Place Tower uses a frame structure made of reinforced concrete columns and beams.

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 curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features high-performance blue-tinted glass that offers high light transmission combined with solar control, enhancing the building's energy efficiency while providing panoramic views of the urban surroundings.

Starting from mid-height, the façade takes on a slightly curved form.