From icon to breadbasket: Gehry building to be turned into Whole Foods
By BD+C Staff
In Columbia, Md., stands the former corporate headquarters of Rouse Company, which founded Columbia in the 1960s as a corporate town. The steel-frame, 150,000-sf, Frank Gehry-designed HQ is about to be completely transformed, according to Architizer.
The Howard Hughes Corporation, in association with architecture firm Cho Benn Holback + Associates, plans to turn the building—at least the majority of it—into a Whole Foods. Hughes Corp. offices will be housed in the building's top level, with the Whole Foods Market taking up the entire 50,000-sf second level.
Cho Benn Holback plans to remove part of the upper level to create double-height space for the grocery store, and will add the well-known Whole Foods sign to the building's facade.
A wellness center will be located on the building's lower level.
