Koning Eizenberg was one of four finalists of an invited design competition by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for a two-block (4.77 acre) riverfront site bounded by Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Penn Avenue, and 7th and 9th Streets in downtown Pittsburgh. An under-utilized 8th Street (trace of a gridiron segment that once connected the city to the riverfront vehicular traffic network) divides the site in two. The site includes two historic buildings, two adaptable buildings and a 600-car parking structure to be replaced in the last phase of masterplan implementation.

The program consists of 628 units over three phases (13% rental and 87% condominium), 1.63-million sf new and adaptive re-use construction including 87,000sf of retail and restaurant; a 71,000sf office space and16,000sf cultural building, 1,024 residential parking stalls, 940 public parking stalls on one subterranean and seven above-grade levels.

The competition brief called for a market-responsive mixed-use master plan to help revitalize the Cultural District and catalyze a more active relationship with the Allegheny River. Rather than concentrate the investment of resources directly on the water's front edge, the master plan adopts an incremental and distributive approach by developing intensity towards and along the river, and doing so primarily from within an internal public square. The design facilitates a spatial strategy which hinges on the development of a vibrant sequence of public spaces and a meandering 'city to river' promenade. The overall character and qualities of the ensemble are defined by an integration of old and new fabric and spaces. The primary elements in this continuum are two major public spaces which complete an existing necklace of cultural venues.

To the east of the square, is a stepped line of five-storey high live/work units; to the south and west are restaurants and food courts. Situated near three corners of the site are three residential towers whose figures rhyme with the sail-like form of the nearby convention center to describe a larger composition that draws on river imagery. At a distance the ribbons register as flattened striping and provide iconic skyline identity. At close proximity, the buildings cascade like a topography whose pocketed surfaces reveal a domestication and individuation of the typical curtain wall to allow for singular expressions of highrise dwelling.