Calatrava's design enfolds expanses of glass and steel within gently curving shells of gleaming white concrete. Public areas in and around the building, notably a pair of light-filled lobbies, open onto landscaped plazas. The lower plaza provides an entrance for visitors who arrive by car. The upper, which serves as a public gathering place and lookout, connects the building to a ceremonial run of trees via an elevated walkway.

Rising from behind the structure and then swooping down, as if reaching toward Peachtree Street, are two "bent leaves" of lattice-like steel. The smaller of these marks a side entrance on a terrace. The larger, which tops the structure at 186 feet, gives dramatic definition to the building's central axis. The movable steel "wings" of a sunscreen will open and close over the soaring, glazed volume of the upper lobby.